Who, Me?
by Agent R
Summary: A blow to the head strikes amnesia for Richie, and a problem for Duncan and Tessa, as they try to tell him something of his life, that doesn't belong in a police file. Hope you enjoy, please read and review.
1. Default Chapter

Who, Me?  
  
"Hey Mac......what's going on?"  
  
Richie came up front and noticed an unexpected delivery to the store.  
  
"They screwed up the orders, I told them to get it here by Thursday the 15th, not Wednesday the 7th...however, considering how bad these guys are at getting directions, I suppose we're lucky to even get them," Duncan said.  
  
"And I thought the phrase 'better late than never' was a keeper," Richie laughed.  
  
"Allright wise guy, since you're in such a good mood, you can go get the next crate off the truck, and don't break anything!" Duncan warned him.  
  
Duncan and Tessa, who had only had Richie stay with them for a couple of months, knew him well enough to know he wasn't the best with fragile items.  
  
"He shouldn't feel too bad, you're not that much better," Tessa reminded him.  
  
Richie got in the back of the truck and looked for the next crate, not only were these guys bad at directions, but they couldn't even get the right crates together, the next one addressed to Duncan MacLeod was under 12 other crates.  
  
"Wonderful," Richie sighed.  
  
Richie knew that Duncan had ordered a bunch of foreign art, paintings, sculptures, so Richie knew that Duncan would kill him if the order was damamged after arriving at the store.  
  
Well, Richie tried to think of a way to get this crate in without bringing the others crashing down, but bringing them down had to be done, so Richie took off the top 3 and put them down, then he reached up and grabbed the next 4 and put them down, leaving another five to take down. Richie figured he was going to be the only 16 year old in Paris with a hernia before the day was through, but he finally got down to the crate. However, it was much heavier than he expected, he immediately put it down so he wouldn't drop it. However, that didn't go over so well, the vibration from that crate traveled to the back of the truck, where other crates stacked up much higher were kept. Richie turned around too late to avoid being struck on the head by one of the fallen crates.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Hey kid............hey kid...........HEY KID!"  
  
Richie opened his eyes and jumped on his feet like he was in boot camp, he looked around and found he had been knocked out in the truck for some time.  
  
"Whaaaa?"  
  
Richie's vision was a bit blurry at first, and had trouble making out the blue and gray figure in front of him, within a few seconds it evened out into the 58-year-old delivery man.  
  
"What're you doing slouching off? You don't even work in this company.....Now get that crate and move it, MacLeod expects his delivery today, not next week!" the guy told him.  
  
Richie didn't see any point in arguing, so he just got the crate addressed to MacLeod and followed him into the store, Duncan and Tessa were in the back room, looking over some order forms.  
  
"Tess, I told you already, I ordered 20 Japanese katanas, not 20 crates of an Asian armory!" Duncan said.  
  
"Don't tell me, tell the Asia ASAP Company," Tessa told him.  
  
"Wonderful, first these morons screw up the order a week early, now these guys are sending out 75 times what I DIDN'T order in the first place!" Duncan said.  
  
Duncan and Tessa heard something drop up front, followed by 2 people yelling, they ran in to see Richie hitting the delivery man and running from him.  
  
"Richie, what's going on out here? What's the matter with you?"   
  
Duncan finally got a hold of Richie and started shaking him, possibly shaking loose the little, if any sense that seemed to be left in Richie.  
  
"Let go of me!"   
  
Richie grabbed Duncan's hands and practically peeled them off his shirt, Duncan tried snagging him by the back of the shirt, and when he did that, Richie kicked him in the mouth and ran.  
  
"What in the hell has gotten into that boy?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I don't know, lady, I just told him to put the crate down and he attacked me!" the delivery man explained.  
  
Tessa almost had to laugh, watching those two fight seemed almost comical, Richie had tried to get up the stairs, but Duncan tripped him down at half way, so to even the score, Richie grabbed Duncan and threw him across the room, and he landed in the 8 arms of a bronze statue over by the west wall. Duncan had forgotten about this antique artifact, he took the bandana off his head in the fact that it was a lady statue and he was honoring the lady.  
  
"Hello."  
  
When Duncan realized Richie had just about gotten away, he jumped out of the statue's arms and grabbed him again.  
  
"Richie, what has gotten into you?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Who's Richie?" the boy asked.  
  
Duncan knew a few of Richie's jokes, and he figured this was no doubt one of them.  
  
"Rich, this is no time for one of your jokes, do you understand?" Duncan asked.  
  
However, Duncan soon learned that he didn't...He could tell that this wasn't something Richie had planned, the only thing he didn't know was what they were going to do....  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Well, looks like there's the problem right there...."  
  
Duncan figured whatever had happened must've taken place while he was in the truck, so he, and Tessa, and Richie, and the delivery man went out to see what happened, and found a crate busted open with several items spread on the floor of the truck.  
  
"You didn't notice this when you first came out?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I was standing over here, and he was in a shadow, I could hardly see your package," the delivery man explained.  
  
A lot of help he was....  
  
Duncan got a good look at what all was in the crate, nothing light-weight, so it was obvious Richie took quite a blow to the head.  
  
"If that's the case," Tessa said, "why doesn't he have anything on his head? A bump? A scrape? Something..."  
  
"Hard to say, Richie does have a hard head, and that jungle on top probably provided as a helmet," Duncan said.  
  
Duncan guessed that if Richie's curly red mess he called hair wasn't so thick, he probably would've gotten worse than just a case of amnesia.  
  
So now Duncan and Tessa were stuck with a new problem, they thought it was difficult enough taking care of Richie when he knew who he was and what he was doing staying with them, but how were they going to explain all this? 


	2. Questions

Questions  
  
"So.......who are you?"  
  
"I'm Duncan MacLeod and this is Tessa Noel."  
  
"You two divorced?"   
  
"We haven't even been married.....although I was expecting him to ask the question on our 19th date," Tessa said.  
  
"You guys work here?"  
  
"Work, live, sleep, you name it," Tessa told him.  
  
"What?" Richie asked.  
  
"The store's on the first floor, we live upstairs on the second floor," Tessa answered.  
  
"And I live here too?"  
  
"Correct."  
  
Richie looked around at the store, it was filled with a lot of antique items, mainly dust...he tried to think, but he couldn't remember anything. Duncan signaled Tessa to meet him in the next room, apparently it was something he didn't want Richie to hear.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"What is it?" Tessa asked.  
  
"As long as Richie's like this, I don't think we should tell him about the Gathering," Duncan said.  
  
"Are you sure that's a wise choice?" Tessa asked, "if someone comes here to take your head, what's he supposed to do should he get wrapped up in it?"  
  
"Tessa, it's already going to be hard enough for him to stay here without knowing anything about himself or anyone else...and this would only confuse him more, we can't tell him."  
  
"Wonderful, but the question is, are you sure it's worth it? Have you ever had amnesia?" Tessa asked.  
  
"No............at least, not that I recall," Duncan said.  
  
"Neither have I, so we don't know if when he does get his memory back, if he'll remember having amnesia," Tessa said.  
  
"I'm starting to realize this experience is going to be confusing for all of us," Duncan said.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"No.....No, I didn't.......Listen, I did NOT order 40 frying pans......OR 40 bedpans! I.....I run an antique store, not a hospital, I think I would know!"   
  
Duncan had been on the phone for half an hour, with someone he ordered a shipment of antique clocks, furniture, and steamer trunks from, and that wasn't what he got apparently.  
  
"No! I ordered antique furniture, not antique furs..........unless they were packed in the trunks, no I didn't order them..........Mister, who would wear something that used to be on a skunk?.......No, no, a porcupine's even worse......WHY? Porcupine quails are used in acupuncture therapy! NOT ON FURS! No, no..............just send me whatever you're going to send me, and if it's not what I ordered, I'm sending it back...No wait! I'm not going to send it back.....I'm going to THROW IT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE LAKE! Goodbye!"  
  
Duncan slammed down the phone and started expressing himself in a way that took the phrase 'pardon my French' to a whole new level. He kept that up until Richie came in.  
  
"Richie, did you understand anything I just said?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I couldn't understand the first word after goodbye," Richie replied.  
  
"You heard me?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Kinda hard not to.......I have a question, but I'm not sure if I should ask," Richie said.  
  
"What is it?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Are.............You and Tessa..........are you my parents?" Richie asked.  
  
This was a question Duncan hoped Richie wouldn't ask, and feared he would, and he knew Richie deserved an honest answer.  
  
"No, just your guardians," Duncan said.  
  
"What happened?" Richie asked.  
  
"I don't exactly know, it's a long and confusing story, you kept getting moved from one foster home to the next for years, after that, you decided you'd rather take it on the streets than keep getting bussed to one house to the next that didn't want you...You thought you had found out about your mother according to some files, but she was only a foster parent..."  
  
"Well........can you tell me something about my life recently?" Richie asked.  
  
"Before you came here, you were this rowdy teenager who spray painted walls.....threw officers into garbage cans......and drank beer through the side of a can with your teeth like Teenwolf...pretty much reckless and didn't give a damn about anything but survivng," Duncan explained.  
  
"Then what?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well then, one night, you broke into our store and attempted to steal a few things," Duncan said.  
  
"You had me arrested?" Richie asked.  
  
"No, the police picked you up but I wouldn't press charges...instead.........here you are," Duncan said.  
  
"How long ago was that?" Richie asked.  
  
"About 2 months, we barely lasted 2 weeks with you, but we managed to get this far without any real problems," Duncan explained.  
  
"What all do you know about me?" Richie asked.  
  
"You mean from your rap sheet?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I have a rap sheet?" Richie asked.  
  
"Yes, about as thick as a telephone book...burglary, grand larceny, disturbing the peace, domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft auto, wreckless driving, possession of a deadly weapon, driving without a license, several DUIs, running stop signs, red lights, illegal turns, assault and battery, blackmail, attempted murder.....You know, if I wasn't your guardian, people around here would swear you were my son," Duncan went down the list.  
  
"Is that all I did? Cause riots and try to go for peoples' throats?" Richie asked.  
  
"Throats, lungs, heads, lips, tongues, ribs, hearts, you were pretty much the potential Jack the Ripper of Europe," Duncan laughed.  
  
Duncan only said that in light humor to cheer Richie up, but he could see Richie took what he said far more serious than necessary.  
  
"Can you tell me anything else?" Richie asked, "Did I have an explosive temper?"  
  
"Explosive.....not exactly, hardheaded, that you were.....I remember one time, you tracked down this guy in a bar. You grabbed him, you rammed his forehead across the green top on the pool table, you threw him up against the payphone and sent him through the window..."  
  
"Oh God, I don't want to hear anymore!" Richie said.  
  
Duncan hadn't realized that that trip down memory lane would be so hard for him to accept.  
  
"Just tell me, did I ever kill anyone?" Richie asked.  
  
"If so, my guess wouldn't be to anyone who didn't deserve it," Duncan said.  
  
"Ohhhhhh!"  
  
"I'm sorry Rich, you'll have to excuse me, I'm very baaaaad at this, I've never dealt with an amnesic patient before, especially one as temporamental as you," Duncan told him.  
  
"God, Duncan, how were you able to keep up with me for as long as you have?" Richie asked.  
  
"Easy, it's nothing I haven't done at some point of my life or another," Duncan said.  
  
"Really?" Richie asked.  
  
"Believe me Rich, I've had far more experience with alcohol, felonies and violence than you have," Duncan said.  
  
"That I find hard to believe," Richie said.  
  
"Oh boy........do I miss the old you," Duncan told him.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"I tried talking to Duncan, but I didn't get too much anywhere, except I found out I have a criminal record that could put Mike Tyson to shame....is there anything else you can tell me?" Richie asked Tessa.  
  
"Where to begin.........all the things you've gotten into around here.........Well, I do recall 2 weeks after you moved in with us....You went on a hectic-frenzy and Duncan put you on house arrest for a while. But not quick enough, you witnessed a murder, and we were all trying to figure out how to get out of it with our heads in tact..."  
  
Tessa almost did it again, she never really had to hide anything she knew about the Immortals from Richie, seeing how he was there when Duncan and Connor went up against Quintin.  
  
"But we pulled through that one...I know....I remember a time where you almost walked away a tycoon."  
  
"What'd I do?" Richie asked.  
  
"Oh boy, you're just like Duncan, you can't resist when there's a fine wine in the house, you got drunk one night and headed over to your then favorite place...The Golden Dragon."  
  
"The what?" Richie asked.  
  
"A casino that's somehow still in business..."  
  
"Wait a minute.....Am I allowed to drink?" Richie asked.  
  
"Here...no, but you always manage to find a way to pack away a few shots of something...Anyway, you got down there with $200 and couldn't decide what to do first. You didn't just stick to anything, you had to try it all....slot machines, poker, roulette, craps, blackjack, everything...Somehow, you knew what were the best bets were and walked away with $4,000."  
  
"Oh boy..."  
  
"Richie, your friend Terry owed money to a guy named Frankie the Face, you gave $2,000 to him so he could pay off his debt," Tessa explained.  
  
"What happened to the other $2,000?" Richie asked.  
  
"You gave it to Duncan, and he gave it back to the casino, however that didn't work well, they asked him to participate in a friendly game of roulette like they do every person who comes in, and he ended up taking it back, along with an extra $13,000," Tessa added.  
  
"Did I ever try that again?" Richie asked.  
  
"Quite a few times, you mainly stuck to roulette and blackjack, since you figured, those had the most potential winnings," Tessa said.  
  
"Boy, of all things I did, you'd think I'd be able to somewhat remember that one," Richie said.  
  
"Well, I'm sure that before too long, you'll be able to remember something," Tessa told him.  
  
"Suppose I don't?" Richie asked.  
  
"Excuse me?" Tessa asked.  
  
"What happens if I never recover from this?" Richie asked.  
  
Tessa didn't know what to say, she wanted to assure Richie he would recover, but she wasn't so sure of it herself.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"How's Richie?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Not well, what did you tell him?" Tessa asked.  
  
"At what point?" Duncan asked.  
  
"At the point where you gave him the idea he's worse than a guy who got arrested over 30 times before he was 13!" Tessa exclaimed.  
  
"He asked what he was like before the accident, that's mainly before he came to live with us, and Tessa, I just don't have that much information about him, all I know is all I know, and unfortunately, what I know about him isn't what he wants to hear...I don't get it, he was so ruthless when we first met him, I knew he'd change when he lost his memory, but I didn't figure it'd be like this...You should've seen the reaction when I told him about the time he pinned that bookie Shark in the bar. He couldn't stand it," Duncan said.  
  
"Well, as long as we're on the subject, there's another problem with Richie," Tessa said.  
  
"What's that?" Duncan asked.  
  
"We've been up here for almost 6 hours, he's only been in the kitchen twice, and that was for a drink......he hasn't eaten anything and you know how Richie always is," Tessa said.  
  
"I know, he raids the icebox more times than me........or at least he used to."  
  
"So what're we going to do with him?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I don't know.......where is he?" Duncan asked.  
  
"He's in his room, he's been in there for the last 3 hours," Tessa said, "he hasn't said anything, he hasn't done anything, it's too quiet, you'd almost think he locked himself in."  
  
"What have you been telling him?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Nothing much, and apparently nothing that's been too much help either, I'm starting to worry about him...Before he went to his room, he asked me what happens if he never recovers...I didn't know what to say because I'm starting to wonder that myself."  
  
"For the time being, I suggest we keep him down here where we can keep an eye on him," Duncan said.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Getting Richie back to the living room was no easy task, he punched, slapped, kicked and bit Duncan every chance he got as Duncan dragged him in there. When that failed at only halfway, he picked Richie up and carried him like a smoked ham and dropped him on the couch.  
  
"What'd I do now?" Richie asked.  
  
Well, that was one thing Duncan had been hoping to hear from him, but it wasn't helpful since he didn't have any idea he used to say that on an hourly basis.  
  
"You didn't do anything, just stay up here and stay out of trouble," Duncan said.  
  
"What would I do?" Richie asked.  
  
Duncan did have some ideas as to what Richie would've done in this situation, but he didn't want to give him any ideas for the time being.  
  
"Just stay where Tessa and I can see you, the last thing we need is to come around to find you missing," Duncan told him.  
  
For some time, Richie just stayed on the couch, hardly even moving a muscle, Tessa came in and reached a decision.  
  
"That does it Richie, I can't take it anymore, come on," Tessa said.  
  
"Where we going?" Richie asked.  
  
Tessa took him back to his room, she went through his CD collection on the shelf.  
  
"What're we doing in here?" Richie asked.  
  
"Richie, try to think, you have to remember something, do you remember your music? Twisted Sister, Queen, the Beastie Boys, W.A.S.P., WHAM. No, no, no, not WHAM, bad choice, baaaaad choice...Dead or Alive, Der Kommisar, Tears for Fears, you have to try to remember Richie...every day, you'd be in here, with your music blasting on top volume, and Duncan would be banging on the door for you to turn it down. And one time when that failed, he busted the door in and came in running like a raging bull, and you opened the window and removed the screen and he fell....into a garbage can," Tessa said.  
  
"I'd like to believe you, I'd like to remember but I can't," Richie said.  
  
"Well you have to do something, make some noise at least, with you around, I've grown so I can't stand quiet, not in the least!"  
  
"Doesn't Duncan get on your nerves?" Richie asked.  
  
"With his classical music all the time, yes, now and then, after 12 years, you learn to live with it," Tessa replied.  
  
"Classical music? You mean he doesn't listen to the stuff I do?" Richie asked.  
  
"No, no, believe me, he burns the stuff you listen to...Richie, Duncan may be like you in some ways, but in others you two are completely different," Tessa said.  
  
"Well what do you want me to do?" Richie asked.  
  
"I want you to sound alive, put on a CD, watch a movie, do something! That's a good idea, there's a very good movie marathon on today, Police Academy, Disorderlies, Airplane, Killer Tomatoes, funny movies, very funny movies," Tessa said.  
  
"Good, right about now, I could use a good laugh," Richie replied.  
  
To be continued.... 


	3. Problems

Problems  
  
"Where's Richie?"  
  
"Relax, he's in the living room just like you said, I finally got him to act somewhat alive though," Tessa replied.  
  
"I was wondering what all that noise was, a bunch of people screaming, guns going off, a hand grenade, a handfull of drunks, bad music, some baboon banging a bongo drum and screaming...For a while, I was hoping it meant Richie was back to normal," Duncan said.  
  
"Hardly......I'm just wondering how long he'll be like this," Tessa thought.  
  
"Well, you know I hate to be the barrier of bad news," Duncan started.  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"But if nothing does change in Richie in a few weeks, we might have to resort to drastic measures," Duncan said.  
  
Just then, they heard something drop, they went into the living room, but they coudln't find Richie.  
  
"Rich, where are you?" Duncan asked.  
  
"On the floor!"   
  
"What're you doing down there?"  
  
"How should I know? One minute, I'm watching that great big baboon terrorize a grocery store, bite a whole banana in half, and bury a guy in the vegetables and slap him with lettuce, and the next thing I know.........this IS the next thing I know," Richie said.  
  
"Well you haven't lost your sense of humor, that's for sure," Duncan said.  
  
Duncan put Richie back on the couch, for once today, he was relieved, Richie was acting somewhat like normal.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Duncan, I'm worried about Richie."  
  
"So am I."  
  
"I mean, it's already 7:15 and he hasn't eaten anything since this morning before the accident," Tessa said.  
  
"That is something to be worried about," Duncan said.  
  
"I suggested everything he'd normally eat and a few things he'd never touch, but nothing," Tessa told him.  
  
"Well, could be the hit knocked loose his appetite as well," Duncan replied.  
  
"Are you trying to make jokes? Do you realize how serious this is?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Look Tess, one day isn't anything to worry about, one week, is," Duncan said.  
  
"So what're you proposing we do? Wait a week to take this problem seriously?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Tess, Richie doesn't know anything, this is his first day, he's new, he doesn't remember anything, by tomorrow he'll have a better idea of how things go around here," Duncan said.  
  
"I should hope so," Tessa replied.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Morning Richie, what time did you get up?" Tessa asked the next day.  
  
"Five o' clock, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, although I can't figure out why," Richie replied.  
  
Tesssa headed into the kitchen and came to realize Richie obviously hadn't been there yet today.  
  
"Richie, you've been up for over an hour and you haven't even eaten yet?"  
  
"I'm not hungry."  
  
"You weren't hungry yesterday either."  
  
"I know..."  
  
"Richie..."  
  
Before Tessa could say anything, in came their neighbor Mister Kane.  
  
"Duncan's out on a run, can I help you?" Tessa asked.  
  
"You certainly may," Mister Kane replied.   
  
"Who're you?" Richie asked.  
  
"What? You don't know me? You must, you come by my apartment everyday, insult me, knock a leg off my fruit stand and run off with a 'hot' mango, you sorry son of a...."  
  
"Mister Kane, we don't have time for this, Richie had an accident yesterday and has amnesia, now what is your problem?" Tessa asked.  
  
"At 4:30 this morning, I couldn't sleep because of that thunder storm last night, I looked out the window and saw your son......walking around the block in his sleep...only half dressed....looked pretty much like he knew where he was going too...do you realize how dangerous this is?" Mister Kane asked.  
  
"Yes I do, yes I do, I used to be one myself," Tessa said.  
  
"A streetwalker?" Mister Kane asked.  
  
Mister Kane was about 76, so odds were he was going senile, so Tessa let that one slip.  
  
"Thank you for stopping by, Mister Kane, goodbye."  
  
Tessa shut the door behind him, and when she was sure he was gone, she bolted it.  
  
"You hear that Tess? No wonder I couldn't sleep, I must've just gotten back at that time," Richie said.  
  
"What did you just say?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I said no wonder I couldn't..."  
  
"Not that, you called me Tess."  
  
"I never called you that."  
  
"Yes you did, plenty of times, but you didn't after your accident, that's it Richie, you're starting to remember," Tessa realized.  
  
"You sure? Could just have slipped out..."  
  
"Well you don't call Duncan Mac anymore, that wouldn't just slip out, you'd have to remember that."  
  
"Why would I call him that?" Richie asked.  
  
"His name is Duncan MacLeod, you always call him Mac for short," Tessa siad.  
  
"Why would I do that?" Richie asked.  
  
"You always did," Tessa said.  
  
"If only I could remember," Richie sighed.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"I'm back," Duncan called.  
  
"What did you do to the door?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Not half as much as what I did to the doorWAY," Duncan said, "someone locked me out."  
  
"Sorry, that was me."  
  
"You're playing hard to get?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Duncan, that crazy Mister Kane was up here earlier," Tessa said.  
  
"Oh? What'd he want? For Richie to stop stealing his mangos?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Duncan, this is serious, he saw Richie walking around the neighborhood in his sleep this morning," Tessa said.  
  
"Did he say what time?" Duncan asked.  
  
"About 4:30," Tessa said.  
  
"Are you sure he was sleepwalking?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Duncan, Richie told me he woke up at 5 o' clock and couldn't sleep, that must've been around the time he got back," Tessa said.  
  
"Richie, are you telling us the truth?" Duncan asked.  
  
In the back of Duncan's mind was hope that Richie was returning back to normal and was trying to pull a quick one on them.  
  
"Duncan, if I could remember going around the town today, I would tell you, but I don't remember it, so I must've been sleepwalking," Richie said.  
  
"Oh boy, I thought you were hard enough to keep an eye on before," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan," Tessa slapped him, "do you realize how dangerous this is?"  
  
"Yes I know, I also know that sometimes, things like this only go around once for a try and never come around again," Duncan said.  
  
"You really think I might be over that?" Richie asked.  
  
"I would think so......I certainly don't ever remember you doing that before your accident, do you, Tess?"  
  
"Most certainly not."  
  
"And I think you would've told us if you had before...I'm sure it's nothing to get worked up about," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan, do you realize what could've happened? He might not even be here to find out," Tessa said.  
  
"But he is now, and seeing how there's little to no chance this will happen again, good-day!" Duncan replied.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Duncan headed down to open the store, he and Tessa decided today it might be safe for Richie to be down there, yesterday was so crazy, Duncan figured Richie scared off any other customers they would've had for the day. While Duncan spoke with a customer, Tessa asked Richie to bring some things out of the back.  
  
"Here they are," he said.  
  
Tessa turned around and was shocked, she asked Richie to bring in the next 3 crates, but she didn't mean all at once.  
  
"Careful Richie! Put them down, put them down now!"  
  
"Something the matter?" Richie asked.  
  
"No, it's just that when you were your normal self, you weren't always the best to carry large stacks of breakables," Tessa said.  
  
"Is that how I got into this mess? I never did find out what happened yesterday," Richie told her.  
  
"I don't know, we went out and saw that a crate had fallen off a much larger pile than with the one you got, and it had hit you on the head and somehow busted itself open," Tessa told him, "for a while, Duncan and I were wondering what you were doing out there, you'd been gone for about half an hour."  
  
"I guess this is serious," Richie said.  
  
"Well it's not you I'm worried about, it's Duncan, he's got giving this whole ordeal the seriousness it deserves," Tessa replied.  
  
"Was I ever serious?" Richie asked.  
  
"Hardly...I remember one time, you were fooling around in the back, and he threatened to take you to the police, and you said 'for what? Assault with a paper airplane? For littering your office?' I think that's one thing he liked about you, you never ran short of a smart aleck remark," Tessa told him.  
  
"What about you?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well, I liked you because you didn't try to klunk us over the head, spray paint obscene graffeti on us and make off with all of our belongings in the middle of the night," Tessa said.  
  
"I've got another question......have you ever raised any teenagers before?"  
  
"No, just you, and hopefully, only you," Tessa said.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Duncan, I'm worried about Richie, it's the second day and he still hasn't eaten anything," Tessa said.  
  
"Are you sure?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I've been keeping an eye on him all day from since I got up to just a little while ago, and the only time I haven't been watching him is when he's in the bathroom...amnesia or not, there is something seriously wrong with him, he doesn't eat, he doesn't listen to his music, he hardly says anything unless he has a question, he seems to have lost his entire sense of humor...he's not even human anymore," Tessa said.  
  
"Look, I'm not going to lie and tell you I'm not worried, I can tell there's a problem with him, but I don't want to worry him......Tess, I just don't know what to do, he's totally changed," Duncan said.  
  
"I know, have you noticed he's become more hand/eye coordinated?" Tessa asked, "he hasn't dropped anything."  
  
"I noticed that when you had him bring those things out from the back, and I didn't hear anything drop," Duncan responded.  
  
At that point, Richie came in the bedroom.  
  
"Something the matter?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Yeah, I don't know why, but my head's starting to hurt," Richie answered.  
  
"Where?"  
  
"On top where I can't see it," Richie said.  
  
"I don't know how you could see it anyway with that rainforest on top," Duncan scoffed, "I swear, if you were to stand out in the rain without that rag on your head, mushrooms would pop up, a whole crop's worth."  
  
However, Duncan had Richie take the doo rag off his head and he took a look, which wasn't easy, he had to dig through all his hair, and then he found it.  
  
"You've got a bump the size of a ping-pong ball on your head," Duncan said.  
  
"What'll I do about it?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well I wouldn't recommend getting out the tennis rackets," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan!" Tessa exclaimed.  
  
"You better put some ice on it to reduce the swelling," Duncan told him.  
  
"I thought that's what they used steak for," Richie said.  
  
"It is, but the meat around here is greasy enough as is without your grease butting in," Duncan said.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Around 12:30, Tessa quietly slipped out of the bedroom and found Richie heading down the stairs in his sleep.  
  
"Duncan get up quick, he's at it again," Tessa slapped him.  
  
"What?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Richie's sleepwalking again, hurry, he's heading down the stairs," Tessa told him.  
  
Duncan jumped out of bed and followed Richie down the stairs, of course doing that in the dark was no easy task, he easily slipped and fell down the rest of the way. Tessa got a hold of Richie and led him back up the stairs into his room. Duncan came back up, and locked Richie in his room.  
  
"Well now we've got another problem," Tessa said.  
  
"You're telling me, how did he go down those stairs in the dark in his sleep? I went down them with my eyes open and I still fell down," Duncan told her.  
  
"You said by now this would've gone away, well it hasn't Duncan, what're we going to do?" Tessa asked.  
  
"We're going to go back to sleep, as long as he's in there and I've got the key, I don't think we have to worry about him," Duncan said.  
  
"What about..."  
  
"I already have those windows locked, besides, he'd never be able to remove the screen in his sleep, and if he does, we'll hear it, now let's get some sleep," Duncan said.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Duncan got up and checked the clock, 2:38, what a night, he was getting no sleep and he was going to be busy tomorrow. Duncan was about to give it another go at when he heard something from the kitchen. He slipped on his coat, with his katana in it, if it was a false alarm, there was no sense in really drawing swords, he figured. Duncan slipped into the kitchen and threw on the lights, and he saw Richie at the table, with a fine mess of something sprawled out across the table.  
  
"You gonna shoot me for taking a sandwich?" Richie asked.  
  
"I don't shoot people, I behead them," Duncan said.  
  
"Charming," Richie said.  
  
"That's how we met," Duncan told him.  
  
"What were you doing trying to behead me?" Richie asked.  
  
Now Duncan had almost blown it with HIS fat mouth. Now he had to find a way around this one without mentioning the Gathering...  
  
"Well...I've had more experience with swords than I have had with guns, I don't trust guns too much, one time I breathed on one too hard and it shot me, and I had it pointed at the enemy...Anyway, when you broke into the store, I had my sword drawn and you didn't know what to think. At first you thought it was a joke, then, you told the police this ridiculous story, which wasn't all that ridiculous because it was true, and that's pretty much how we met," Duncan said.  
  
Okay, so he'd left out the details about Connor and Quintin, and how it was like a scene from King Arthur, but more or less, he'd given the basics to Richie on their meeting. Then it hit Duncan that something was wrong.  
  
"What're you doing out here?"  
  
"I told you, I'm getting something to eat, I haven't eaten anything in 2 days," Richie said.  
  
"No no no," Duncan replied, "I don't mean that, I mean how'd you get out here?"  
  
"Tessa gave me the key," Richie said.  
  
"Tessa? What?"   
  
Duncan did a double take at that one, it made sense but at the same time, it made no sense whatsoever.  
  
"About an hour ago, she came in and told me I'd been sleepwalking again, and that you locked me in until morning, and she gave me the key," Richie said.  
  
"Yeah, the only key, if I woke up the next morning to get you and you were already gone, I probably would've had a heart attack," Duncan said.  
  
He wasn't sure if Immortals got them, seeing as how they COULD die and come back within a matter of minutes, but he wasn't one for trying. But then another thought entered his mind.  
  
"Were you asleep when she came in?" Duncan asked.  
  
"No, I was trying to get out...I thought maybe I couldn't see what I was doing right because it was pitch dark, but I soon found out that either the door was stuck, or someone had locked me in. Tessa must've heard me because a few minutes after that, she came in with the key," Richie said.  
  
Duncan felt like an irresponsible parent, normally he could hear just about anything at any time, he never even heard Richie trying to get out, and he could only think what Richie would've done if he had been locked in his room until morning. Now he really felt stuck in a corner.  
  
End of chapter 3 


	4. Answers

Answers  
  
"Calm down, Duncan, it's nothing you did."  
  
"I feel like an irresponsible father, Tess, you should've heard what he said...I just can't believe that I couldn't even hear him trying to get out of his room."  
  
"Well, I had trouble hearing him myself, he was very quiet, I just figured there was a problem and slipped in," Tessa said.  
  
"Tess, anyone with common sense knows you don't leave an already as is emotional teenager like Richie, who has already reached near-hysterics, locked in a room all night...How could I have been so stupid!?"  
  
Duncan continued smacking himself upside his forehead for a while, until something else hit him.  
  
"How was he when you went in there? Was he crying? Screaming? What?"  
  
"He seemed fine, just a little shook up from being locked in..."  
  
"I feel so stupid!"  
  
"Duncan, sit down, I'm going to tell you something," Tessa said.  
  
"Oh no, Tessa, are you going to tell me another story of something that happened when you were on vacation in America in 1970 something?" Duncan asked.  
  
"No Duncan, I'm going to do shadow puppets," Tessa fidgeted with her hands, "see the elephant eating the peanut? Of course I'm going to tell you something that took place in America, SIT!"  
  
Duncan did as he was told, he knew that when Tessa got mad, there was no fighting her, she was like a bull dog, she'd rip him to shreds no matter what.  
  
"Now, when I spent a month in Los Angeles in 1970, it was when the world uncovered the worst case of child abuse they'd ever seen. This man named Wes Standon had a daughter named Katie, who he had kept imprisoned in one room her whole life from the ages of 1-13. She was tied to a chair by day and tied in a crib by night. When she was little, he had her tied in a chair and barked and snapped at her like a mad dog. Her mother had cataracts and was going blind, so she couldn't take care of her, and she also had a son, who was a bit retarded himself. One day in November, after Wes left, the mother took Katie to get some help, because Wes had promised if she lived past 12, they'd get her help. It became apparent that she never learned to speak, and acted in ways as an animal. She was taken to a hospital and treated for malnutrition, where she made friends with a doctor who saved her life, and a young woman studying law. At the same time, there was this journalist who figured she could get rich off of knowing Katie, she didn't even care about helping her. One day, when the doctor and the law student took her out for a walk, they came across a dog at a neighbor's house, Katie started screaming and scratching at her arms until they bled, being in as poor a condition as she was, that didn't take long.   
  
"Katie was moved from one foster house to the next, since she didn't talk much, she used sign language a lot, but the next foster home she was moved to, there were 2 other foster children, and when she tried to interact with the others through sign language, the father forbid it. They wouldn't take any pity on her, despite what had happened, they claimed that the other kids came from equally strange backgrounds and they behaved perfectly. Finally, she was moved for the last time to a foster home. The journalist continued to harrass Katie and her friends until she died, which was just a few years ago. That law student now works at the UCLA, and is forbidden to see Katie, only she lives a few miles away, in the same foster home. All that was brought on by one sick and twisted man, compared to him, Duncan MacLeod, you're a saint with Richie."  
  
"I sure don't feel like a saint, when he gets his memory back, if he does remember this whole ordeal, he's never going to forgive me for locking him in his room in the middle of the night without so much as an explanation," Duncan replied.  
  
"Duncan, the way I put that story is an understatement, the real one is so horrible, you can't find it anywhere, not in newspaper articles, anything... They talked about it on the news then, but they didn't include all the details," Tessa said.  
  
"Wait a minute, if you were only in Los Angeles for a month, how did you know all that?" Duncan asked.  
  
"When you come across a story that grabs you, you intend to find out how it ends... Now can you honestly tell me that after what you've just heard, you still think you're all that bad?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I guess not, but still......what's Richie going to say when he does get his memory back?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I don't know, but if I remember this, I'll be sure and tell you," Richie walked into the kitchen.  
  
"How long were you listening?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Long enough to try and picture you in a white outfit with a crucifix and a white yamaka," Richie laughed.  
  
"Look Richie, about last night..."  
  
"Don't worry, I can understand why you locked me in, you didn't trust me," Richie said.  
  
"Richie..."  
  
"I can understand that, lately I've been having trouble trusting myself, I've got secrets I haven't even told myself yet," Richie added.  
  
"Rich..."  
  
"Look, I know you just didn't want me stumbling into something, don't worry about it...so what all happened last night that I don't know about?" Richie asked.  
  
"Nothing much, Duncan just tried to nab you and fell down the stairs and rammed into a statue," Tessa said.  
  
"By the time I stopped rolling, I was the head of the statue!" Duncan replied.  
  
"Hope that thing wasn't expensive," Richie said.  
  
"$2,000, compared to some things, that's no skin off my nose," Duncan said.  
  
"No, just a couple inches of skin off your back," Tessa scoffed.  
  
"Richie, I've been doing some thinking about all this...I'm not sure, but I think I might know someone who could help with your problem," Duncan said.  
  
"Who?" Richie asked.  
  
"An old friend of mine," Duncan said.  
  
And when he said old, he wasn't kidding, he had his friend from Scotland, Shawn Pierson, (who had recently moved a few miles down from them) come up to look at Richie. He specialized in stuff like this, at some point, he had taken up a strange kind of hypnosis, Duncan figured maybe he could trigger something in the back of Richie's mind. Duncan had known him since 1772, and he was 72 when he died the first time, so that basically made him too old for anybody.  
  
"This guy's going to psycho-analyze me?" Richie asked.  
  
"More or less, but there's a catch," Duncan said.  
  
"What?" Richie asked.  
  
"He mainly speaks only German, now don't ask me how he learned to speak that in Scotland, but...he's going to tell me what he finds, and I'm going to translate it," Duncan said.  
  
"Okay then," Richie said.  
  
Shawn took a good look at Richie from pretty much all angles, Richie didn't mind his bugging eyes as much as he did his cold hands, every time he had to look at him at a different angle, he jerked Richie at it...after a while, he seemed to be done.  
  
"Ich kann auffinden beliebeg folgerichtig die Antwort," Shawn said.  
  
"I can't find any logical answer," Duncan translated.  
  
"Aber, ich das aufweisen eine der Begriff," Shawn added.  
  
"However, I do have an idea," Duncan translated.  
  
"Ich wurde ahnlich dein der Arbeiter eingebaut die Hochzeit," Shawn said.  
  
"I would like your hand in marriage," Duncan translated.  
  
"WHAT!?"   
  
Richie jumped over Shawn's head and ran behind Duncan for protection.  
  
"Sorry Richie, either my German's gotten rusty, or he's Scotland's oldest homo," Duncan told him.  
  
Duncan headed over to Shawn to speak with him.  
  
"Shawn, Ich das Fragen dich an due Hilfe mein der Pflegesohn," Duncan said.  
  
Richie looked at Tessa, and she seemed to know pretty much what he said.  
  
After that, Duncan and Shawn threw some German insults at each other and Shawn left, apparently he'd been of no help, other than to spruce up Duncan's German.  
  
"I'd say I did pretty well considering I haven't had to speak German for 150 years," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan, why did you tell Shawn that?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Tell him what?" Duncan asked.  
  
"You said to him, 'I'm asking you to help my son', why did you say that?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I think YOU need to brush up on it, I said 'I'm asking you to help my FOSTER son'," Duncan replied.  
  
"And what did he say afterwards?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I could tell you, but I don't want Richie to hear," Duncan grinned.  
  
"But you didn't mind translating to him from Shawn, 'I would like your hand in marriage'?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Tessa...look, it's obvious Shawn was of no help, apparently, we're going to have to find a way to either trigger his memory ourselves, or we're going to have to wait for it to come back naturally," Duncan told her.  
  
"Which reminds me, what're we going to do about tonight?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I haven't thought of that yet, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Duncan told her.  
  
"Correction, we'll blow up that bridge when we come to it," Tessa replied.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Duncan opened the store and was hoping he could figure out how to fix a problem that arose, the delivery from the cuckoo dealer he talked to the other day had arrived, 40 frying pans, 40 bed pans, a skunk's fur, some kind of fur that must've belonged to a porcupine, a stuffed quail, a water bed, a metal safe, a suit of armor, a stuffed grizzly bear, a crystal ball, and a skeleton from India.  
  
"Figures, perfect teeth," Duncan said.  
  
"Da gleich auf abbringen da die Narren der Hals," he grumbled.  
  
"hallo Mac," Richie came in.  
  
"Hi Rich...Rich? What'd you just say?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I said hello, I figured since you're on a big German kick lately, I might as well learn," Richie said.  
  
Duncan saw Richie had a book in his hands, a German/English dictionary.  
  
"What did you hear?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I heard you saying you'd like to ring the fool's neck," Richie said, "so, this is what that baffoon sent you, huh?"   
  
"Yep, and I tell you, I got no use for any of it, except maybe the water bed," Duncan said.  
  
"Tess should keep one of these around for you," Richie picked up a frying pan.  
  
"Ha-ha-ha, give me that," Duncan said.  
  
"Or how bout this suit of armor? It'll come in handy when she throws dishes at you," Richie said.  
  
"She tell you that?" Duncan asked.  
  
"No...........so how did I know it?" Richie asked.  
  
"I don't know, there was one time I remember you saw her throw 12 plates at me for something, but...do you remember that?" Duncan asked.  
  
"No....so how do I know it?" Richie asked.  
  
"I don't know, I can't figure why you would know something you can't even remember," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan, there's something I think I should tell you, but I didn't earlier," Richie said.  
  
"What is it?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Last night I had this strange dream, you, and I were talking to this old guy with gray hair, full beard, and a walker, and this other guy who was pretty homely. He had bad complexion, short dark hair, and he was wearing an overcoat, and we were talking about this other guy going around with the same name who looked.........ancient, like 5,000 years or something," Richie said.  
  
"You're right, that is strange," Duncan said.  
  
"Well what do you think it is?" Richie asked.  
  
"I don't know, maybe it was while you were sleepwalking, but I wouldn't worry about it now, I have an idea to put this sleepwalking to and end," Duncan said.  
  
"What is it?" Richie asked.  
  
"You'll see tonight, don't worry about it now...go see if you can help Tessa."  
  
Well, for the moment, Duncan had his hands tied with Richie's crazy dream, a spontanous spill of memories, and 40 bedpans, a stuffed bear and porcupine fur coat.  
  
To be continued... 


	5. A Solution?

A Solution?  
  
(Author's note: With the last chapter, someone asked 'who's the homely guy' from Richie's dream, to answer that, it was Methos, around the time that another Immortal, using the same name was going around convincing Immortals to stop fighting, and then he killed them.)  
  
"Duncan, you're soaking wet!" Tessa realized.  
  
"So what? Hang me on a clothesline, I'll drip dry," Duncan said.  
  
"Where have you been?" Tessa asked.  
  
"The river....I told that guy, if the order wasn't what I expected it to be, I was going to take everything and throw it in the river, and that's exactly what I did, the grizzly bear, the quill coat, the crystal ball, the frying pans, the bedpans, all of it," Duncan exhaled.  
  
"Well change into some dry clothes before you catch your death," Tessa said.  
  
"Like it matters?" Duncan asked, "Where's Richie?"  
  
"In his room, reading..."  
  
"Richie, reading? Richie Ryan? Our Richie?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yes, he just got back from the library with about 14 books," Tessa replied.  
  
"14?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yes, he read every book in the house within a few hours," Tessa said.  
  
"Now that's a twist of things," Duncan said.  
  
"I know, he even went through your books, the ones that were in French, German, Russian, Japanese, Latin, Spanish, Duncan, how many languages can one person pick up in their life?" Tessa asked.  
  
"You'd be surprised," Duncan said.  
  
"I'll be back in an hour, I have a doctor's appointment today and I intend to keep it," Tessa said.  
  
Duncan knew Tessa well enough to know she could be very stubborn with doctors, however, he didn't worry, Tessa's doctor was Doctor Rebecca Moore, so unless she was going to try something new, he didn't have to worry about her going behind his back. Duncan headed over to outside Richie's room, he jiggered with the knob, Richie hadn't locked himself in, however, with him busy for the minute, Duncan figured he could get to work on his plan to end his sleepwalking habits.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Richie, come out here," Duncan called.  
  
"What?" Richie asked.  
  
"Richie, how do you walk normally?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I don't know..."  
  
"I mean after your accident, how do you walk normally around here?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I don't know, I guess like this."  
  
Richie headed back to his room, taking a few large steps.  
  
"Yes, but I don't suppose you walk the same way in your sleep," Duncan said.  
  
"I guess not, I guess that would be more like this."  
  
Richie slowly walked out of his room, taking more, smaller steps. As he reached the outside of the doorway, he jumped when he heard a siren go off.  
  
"WHAT IS THAT?" Richie yelled over the noise.  
  
"WHAT?" Duncan asked.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Richie asked.  
  
"THAT? That's a car alarm down in the streets, it just happened to go off as you stepped out here," Duncan said.  
  
"Jeez!" Richie pounded Duncan in the shoulder, "Give a guy a heart attack!"  
  
However, after Richie shut up, he could still hear something.  
  
"What's that? Someone got an alarm on a house cat they're walking?" Richie asked.  
  
"No, that's the alarm that'll go off if you do another disappearing act like that," Duncan said.  
  
"What'd you do?" Richie asked.  
  
"I went down to an electronic store today and picked up a couple of small alarms, they'll go off when you walk down here, I just have to set them to go off at night," Duncan told him.  
  
"Where are they?" Richie asked.  
  
"Under the floorboards," Duncan said.  
  
"Where's the other one?" Richie asked.  
  
"Over at the head of the stairs, this way, if you do that again tonight, we'll hear you," Duncan said.  
  
"If you say so," Richie sighed.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
That night, Duncan woke up expecting to hear the alarm go off, however, he heard nothing, he grabbed the clock and looked at it, 2:45, if Richie were to have done his sleepwalking routine, surely he figured he would've done it by now. However, Mister Kane said he saw Richie out at 4:30...Duncan had a feeling this was going to be a long night.  
  
A short while later, Duncan felt something pressing on his chest, at the same time, he heard Tessa doing something on the other side of the bed, Tessa turned on the lights and both of them were in for a surprise. Somehow Richie had gotten past the first alarm system and into their bed.  
  
"Oh boy," Duncan grumbled, "now what?"  
  
"Richie, wake up," Tessa shook him.  
  
"What is it? What's going on? Where are we?" Richie asked, still groggy and half asleep.  
  
"You're in our room, would you mind telling us how you got in here?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I don't know," Richie said.  
  
"You don't know if you mind telling us or you don't know how you got in here?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I don't know, the last thing I remember was reading on how this guy tripped his wife down the stairs with a wire and he wound up dead after a night of breaking a detective's ribs, and the next thing I know.....this IS the next thing I know," Richie said.  
  
"Oh boy," Duncan sighed, trying hard as it was not to laugh.  
  
"I'm terribly sorry, I don't know how I got in here," Richie climbed out of bed.  
  
"I do, it's time we get a lock on that door," Tessa said to Duncan.  
  
However, Richie took that last part pretty seriously, Duncan jumped out of bed and grabbed him in the hall.  
  
"Richie, get back here, that's just typical Tessa, especially when you get her up in the middle of the night, she always ends something with a pinch of sarcasm," Duncan told him.  
  
"That's a pinch?" Richie asked.  
  
"Have you ever been pinched by a local resident around here? It takes 15 minutes," Duncan said.  
  
"Look, I'm sorry about barging in like that.........I...I'm going back to my room."  
  
Richie marched over to outside his doorway, over the alarm system and into his room.  
  
Wonderful, Duncan thought, now the boy was punishing himself.  
  
Then it hit Duncan, Richie knew where the alarm was so he stepped over it, he must've done it that way in his sleep also.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Well, how'd you sleep last night?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Pretty well, considering I woke up having a 165-pound teenager right next to me," Tessa replied.  
  
"You're lucky he was just next to you, he was practically on top of me," Duncan said.  
  
"So......the alarm didn't work."  
  
"Apparently not, but I do think I know how to end his sleepwalking," Duncan said.  
  
"What? Put thumb tacks on the floors?" Tessa asked.  
  
"No no no," Duncan laughed, "but I have an idea."  
  
"And what would that be?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Well, do you think it's possible to willingly get 3 people in our bed?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Willingly? Duncan, willingly we could get a Mariachae band in there, what's the point?" Tessa asked.  
  
"The point is I hope you're not expecting too much extra room in the bed tonight," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan, what's going through your mind that I should know about?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I'll tell you later when you're up for it," Duncan said.  
  
"Up for letting Richie sleep in the bed with us?" Tessa asked.  
  
"No, up for hearing why," Duncan replied.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Duncan."  
  
"What is it, Rich?" Duncan asked.  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
By which Duncan knew Richie found out a few things had been taken from his room.  
  
"Well, I think I might have the solution for your sleepwalking problem," Duncan said.  
  
"Teriffic, what is it?" Richie asked.  
  
"Tonight you're going to sleep with us."  
  
"What?" Richie asked.  
  
Duncan turned his head to talk to Richie, but found out that he should've been more specific with his choice of words.  
  
"Not like that!" Duncan corrected himself, "I figure, the only way to stop you from sleepwalking is find a way to put a stop to the habit. So, you're going to stay here with us tonight."  
  
"Mac, isn't that going to bother you and Tessa?" Richie asked.  
  
"How do you mean?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Duncan, I may have been born at night but not LAST night, I may not have any idea who I am or what I'm doing here, but I have a perfect idea on what sex is," Richie said, "so how long am I going to have to spend the night with you?"  
  
"I'm guessing at least a week, it's usually most effective for breaking early on habits like this," Duncan said.  
  
"Isn't it going to be crowded with me in the bed?" Richie asked.  
  
"Not at all," Tessa came in, "as a matter of fact, where I came from, 3 in a bed was a treat, it meant 80% of your family was out of town, on vacation, or in the army."  
  
Richie went in the bathroom to get a shower, it was at that moment that something hit Duncan, he stormed into the bathroom behind Richie.  
  
"Apparently privacy isn't an option in this house, is it?" Richie asked.  
  
"You just called me Mac."  
  
"I did not."  
  
"Yes you did, only a few minutes ago."  
  
"I.......did, but I wasn't thinking that, so why would I call you it?" Richie asked.  
  
"I don't know, but there's something I forgot to ask," Duncan said, "what happened last night?"  
  
"If you mean did I have anymore strange dreams, actually I did...I have to ask you something, it probably sounds crazy, but.......how old are you?"  
  
"30."  
  
"Strange, in the dream, I was in a cemetery and your name was on the tombstone and it said 1592-"  
  
"Through what?" Duncan asked.  
  
"That's just it, there was no death date, Duncan, and this guy......he said his name was Adam Pierson......he said you got what was coming to you......did YOU ever kill someone?" Richie asked.  
  
Well, Duncan couldn't tell Richie how many people he had killed, truth be told, it'd been so long since the first time, he'd lost count how many people he killed. However, the name Adam Pierson didn't ring a bell for him.  
  
"Well, if that were so, it would mean I was about 400 years old, and you know just as well as I do that that's impossible," Duncan lied.  
  
Duncan didn't like lying to Richie when he was like this, so he just said it quick and got it over with.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Allright Rich, get into bed," Duncan said.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"We're going to do this just like last night, Tessa's going to be on the left, you're going to be in the middle, and I'm going to be on the right," Duncan said.  
  
"And this is going to stop me from sleepwalking?" Richie asked.  
  
"No, this is."  
  
Duncan took Richie's wrist and slapped a cuff on his and put the other on his own wrist.  
  
"What the?"  
  
"I have no doubt in my mind if you were going to do that again tonight, you'd walk all over us and be gone in an instant. This way, if you start tugging in the middle of the night, I'll know what you're up to," Duncan said.  
  
"I don't get it."  
  
"Get what?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Why are you doing this to me?"   
  
Duncan could tell Richie didn't quite get what he was doing, Richie looked far from just uneasy.  
  
"Look Rich, I'm not a psychiatrist and I don't know any professional way to break your habit, so I'm going to do it the way my roommate would've done me," Duncan said.  
  
"How's that? You cram me in the middle of the bed and keep me cuffed to you all night?" Richie asked.  
  
"Not quite, the way my friend Connor did it was, he took 2 pairs of handcuffs, he told me to get on the left side of the bed...at the time we didn't have too good luck in sleeping arrangements so we got stuck in the same bed. Then he cuffed my wrist to his and his other wrist to the bedpost. Then, when I got up......when I tried to get up, I jerked his wrist, he woke up and jerked me back into bed. 2 weeks, it was broken."  
  
"The habit?"  
  
"No, the handcuffs."  
  
"Oh....."  
  
"The rest of the week, Connor stayed up every night watching me, and if I started at it again, he just grabbed me from behind and pulled me back down in bed...by the end of the week, the habit was broken."  
  
"Your friend Connor sounds strange...but at least he cared about you enough to fix the problem, I'd like to meet him sometime."  
  
Oh boy, Duncan really missed the old Richie.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
That night, Duncan awoke to a sudden jerk of his wrist, at first he thought someone was deliberately trying to rip it off, but then he remembered the handcuffs. That meant Richie was at it again, Duncan sat up and yanked Richie back, and he fell back, on Duncan. Duncan was about to put Richie back in the middle, but he decided to be a bit easier on him than Connor was when he was sleepwalking. When he caught Duncan, he just threw him back on his side of the bed, Duncan removed the cuffs for the moment, gently laid Richie back down, then reapplied the cuffs.   
  
Duncan had to laugh, he had forgotten how much Richie was coming to be like him, either he was doing it intentionally and if he wasn't doing that, it was happening naturally. With Richie, Duncan didn't know anything could be natural...he mussed Richie's hair a bit, kissed him on the forehead and went back to sleep himself.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Richie....Richie, wake up..."  
  
Richie opened his eyes and looked around, it took him a few seconds to remember where he was.  
  
"Hey, I guess your..........Connor's method worked," Richie noticed.  
  
"Yeah, good way to make sure I don't sleep through it or else you'll rip my hand off," Duncan laughed.  
  
"That bad huh?" Richie asked.  
  
Duncan wanted to tell Richie how it reminded him of the time someone put him on an old rack and tried to stretch him out to be 6'9, but he figured he best not tell him, at least not yet.  
  
"Where's Tessa?" Richie asked.  
  
"In the kitchen, you slept in..."  
  
Richie turned to the clock, it was going on 8 o' clock, normally Duncan wouldn't let him sleep past 7:30 at the most.  
  
"Man, I guess I was exhausted more than I thought," Richie yawned.  
  
"So, should I expect anything new?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yeah...it was something weird, you and me were in a hotel with swords, ready to take each others' heads, we were looking for someone...he was at the cemetery because I killed a friend of his, he was going to kill me, I was ready to take him, but you insisted," Richie explained.  
  
To Duncan, Richie's dreams were just getting weirder, but at least Duncan knew half of what it was, Richie didn't even have a clue about the Immortals, what they did, who they fought, what their purpose was...  
  
And Duncan was for keeping it that way as long as he had no memory of them, he didn't want to confuse Richie anymore than he had to. Duncan slipped down to the store to open up, on a table he saw an enevelope with his name on it.  
  
Duncan would've remembered it from last night, but he figured he better see what he owed whom now.  
  
However, it left him in shock, it read 'Duncan, am coming by this afternoon, don't make any plans, don't leave town, and let Richie know I'm stopping by.'  
  
There was no name on the letter, but Duncan had an idea he knew who it was from.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Hey Duncan!"  
  
"What is it, Richie?"  
  
"There's another delivery here."  
  
"Again? I wish these people would either learn to get the orders right or to ship them out at different times of the month."  
  
Duncan went out to get the delivery off the truck.  
  
"Where's that kid who always hangs aroung here? I figured he'd be coming out to pick up the package," the driver said.  
  
"No, for the time being, I'm handling all the orders around here, from when I make the orders to when they arrive," Duncan replied.  
  
"Suit yourself."  
  
"Already have, thank you very much."  
  
"Duncan, what is that?" Tessa asked.  
  
"A bunch of ancient books."  
  
"Catching up on some reading?" Tessa laughed.  
  
"I placed an order for a set of these things last Thursday, but they sent me the wrong ones," Duncan said.  
  
"Why don't you have them take it back?" Tessa asked.  
  
"You don't know these guys, once they send it out, it never comes back unless by accident," Duncan told her.  
  
"What kind of books are they?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Old world medicine, supersition, stuff like that," Duncan said.  
  
"Mind if I have a look at them?" Richie asked.  
  
"Go ahead, I don't know anyone in their right mind who would buy them around here anyway," Duncan said.  
  
Richie dug through the books until he found one that caught his current attention, Between This World and the Next. He found a lot of strange things in it, maybe it had something for amnesia.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"So he's having these strange dreams about you and other Immortals and you're still not even going to tell him about the Gathering?" Tessa asked.  
  
"It crossed my mind a couple of times, but no, I can't do it, Tessa," Duncan told her.  
  
"And why not? He has a right to know, doesn't he? Besides, suppose these dreams of his mean something," Tessa said.  
  
"Tessa, he said in the last dream he was ready to take my head, are you suggesting that he's Immortal too?" Duncan almost laughed.  
  
"It's possible, isn't it?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Not it is not possible," Duncan mocked her, "if he was Immortal, I would've known by now."  
  
"Maybe he just hasn't been killed yet, you have to die before you become Immortal, don't you?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Yes, but as long as I have a say in it, that's not going to happen anytime soon," Duncan said.  
  
Richie could hear them from the backroom, but not too well, it mainly made out as mumbling to him, so he just went back to the book.  
  
He read a lot of things, how to travel the land outside of your body, how to place curses on people, and how to in a physical sense play dead...But nothing he found that could be of any help with him.   
  
It didn't take him too long to finish that book, so he headed back over to the set and picked out another one.  
  
"Modern medicine......copyright 1746....hopefully doctors have made a few change since then," Richie said.  
  
Richie figured since he didn't know too much about his regular life, he might as well do something with his spare time, where as he found the books would come in handy.  
  
As for Duncan, he was hoping that his afternoon visitor was going to be someone familiar, and someone who wasn't going to try and take his head.  
  
To be continued... 


	6. Unexpected Visit

Unexpected Visit  
  
"Tessa, I want you to do me a favor," Duncan said.  
  
"What is it?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I want you to take Richie out today, I'm expecting company and I'm not sure who it is, the last thing I want is for Richie to be a witness," Duncan told her.  
  
"What time?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Around noon."  
  
"That won't be too long, I'll go tell him we'll be leaving soon."  
  
Duncan was glad Richie was going to be getting out today, normally he'd use every chance he got just to get away from the shop, but since he got hit in the head, he just pretty much stayed inside all day. It was just about driving Duncan crazy.  
  
[All those times I told him to shut off that crazy noise,] he thought, [now I'd just like to hear him act normal again.]  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
About an hour went by, Tessa and Richie had been gone for a while, and good thing apparently, Duncan could tell that another Immortal was nearby. And either the Immortal dropped from an airplane or he used to be a catburglar, he was up on the second floor already.  
  
Duncan slowly headed up the stairs, whatever and whoever it was, was 2 rooms ahead. Duncan pulled his katana out of his coat and headed in, ready to expect anything, but he wasn't prepared for the figure that came out from behind the door.  
  
"Duncan MacLeod."  
  
Duncan turned around and saw the face of an old friend, a sour friend at times, but a friend nonetheless.  
  
"Connor!"  
  
"Don't touch me! Don't touch me!"  
  
Connor sat down at the table, Duncan quickly became aware that he was a mess.  
  
"What in the hell happened to you?" Duncan asked.  
  
Connor looked like he had been jumped by a mountain lion, he had slashes going all the way down his shirt and his coat, with blood in between, he had a bloody bump on his temple and his hands looked pretty much like they'd been torn to scrap.  
  
"A machete with Raoul Blake's name on it," Connor gasped.  
  
"Raoul Blake..."  
  
Duncan tried to place the name, but he couldn't remember any, maybe this amensia stuff was contageious.  
  
"Yes, he's not exactly someone new, but no one you know, nor do I think someone you should worry about....He's about 800 years old, he's been looking for me for quite some time, he would've had my head too, except."  
  
"Except?"  
  
"What? Can't an Immortal have an excuse for leaving in the middle of a fight now and then? ....Except, he had a bit of a problem."  
  
"Like what?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Duncan, this is no regular Immortal, I dug into his shoulder with my sword and it was like someone put gunpowder in him, there were sparks flying out everywhere, like a wielding bit...Duncan, I don't know what the hell this guy's problem is, but he's made it apparent that he's not in directly for the kill. He likes the idea of making Immortals think he's 2 inches away from decapitating them, then he leaves, making them appear lower than scrap...Duncan, do you have any idea how long it's going to take for this to heal?" Connor asked.  
  
Duncan couldn't answer, he'd been hung, shot, stabbed, poisoned, blown up, run off the road, and then some, and he never ended up looking like Connor.  
  
"I don't believe this," Duncan said.  
  
"Well, enough about this, let's forget Raoul for a minute...how've you been holding up around here?" Connor asked.  
  
"Not too well, you wouldn't believe what's been going on," Duncan said.  
  
"That reminds me, where's Richie? I haven't seen him since we met," Connor said.  
  
"Well, actually..."  
  
As Duncan was getting around to Richie, he was surprised to see him standing in the doorway.  
  
"You call, Mac?" Richie asked.  
  
"Ah, Richie, just the guy I wanted to see, how's it been going?" Connor asked.  
  
"Huh?" Richie asked.  
  
"Connor, I need to speak with you in the next room," Duncan said.  
  
"What about?" Connor asked.  
  
"You're Connor? The guy who chained Mac to the bed to stop his sleepwalking?" Richie asked.  
  
"Connor, go in the next room, I'll be there in a minute," Duncan said.  
  
Connor figured there was something behind this, so he did as Duncan said.  
  
"Richie, when did you get back?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Just a few minutes ago."  
  
"And Tessa?"  
  
"She stopped to talk to someone down the street, she told me to come back," Richie said.  
  
"I'll be back in a minute, don't go anywhere," Duncan said.  
  
Duncan headed into the living room to speak with Connor.  
  
"Connor, I don't think you coming up here like this is such a good idea, a few days ago, Richie got hit in the head and now he can't remember anything...And I don't dare tell him about the Gathering while he's like this," Duncan said.  
  
"Why not? I reminded you when you had amnesia," Connor said.  
  
"I didn't have amnesia!" Duncan protested.  
  
"Yes you did, in about.....1899, you just don't remember," Connor laughed.  
  
"That would make sense," Duncan said, "but Connor, that's different, I was Immortal then as I am now, Richie is neither."  
  
"Well, just the same, I think..."  
  
"That reminds me, you're pretty good with names, so maybe you can help me...Lately Richie's been having these strange dreams and Tessa and I think it might have something to do with an upcoming event. He gave me the name of a guy named Adam Pierson, does that ring a bell for you?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Honestly..........not a chance," Connor replied.  
  
"Look, until things start getting back to normal around here, I don't want you saying anything to Richie about Immortals, beheadings or the Gathering, got it?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Got it."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Connor and Duncan headed back into the kitchen...  
  
"Richie, this is my friend, Connor MacLeod," Duncan said.  
  
"Are you two......like, family?" Richie asked.  
  
"I suppose you could say that," Connor replied, "Duncan told me about your misfortunate accident, I'm sorry, I thought you mind remember me."  
  
"Sorry, nothing."  
  
Richie looked down and eyed the handle of Connor's sword, sticking out of his coat.  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"This?" Connor pulled it out, "this is....this is....."  
  
"Don't tell me, you got shot by a gun aimed at the enemy too?"  
  
Connor turned to Duncan and mumbled through the side of his mouth, "what have you been telling this kid?"  
  
"Basically everything but the truth," Duncan answered through the side of his mouth.  
  
"Naaaaa, actually, I'm.......I'm the one who showed Duncan how it's easier and better to fight with a sword rather than a sidearm," Connor said.  
  
"No kidding, so, what brings you up here?" Richie asked.  
  
"Business," Connor said.  
  
"Business?"  
  
"Yeah, routine business," Connor said.  
  
Well, he wasn't actually lying, last time he checked, taking other Immortals' heads was his business.  
  
"Well Connor, I wish I knew what to say, but I don't."  
  
"Don't worry about it kid, tell me, how hard a hit did you take?" Connor asked.  
  
"I don't know, all I know was I woke up and this crate had busted itself open, and several things had fallen out," Richie said.  
  
"What kind of stuff?"  
  
"Heavy stuff, metal parts basically, I guess I'm lucky I'm not dead by now," Richie said.  
  
"Ahhhh don't worry, a head as hard as your can endure a lot of punishment," Connor told him.  
  
"I know, and I have this as proof."  
  
Richie snatched off his rag and pointed out his bump.  
  
"You mean to tell me you just got that from being hit on the head by a crate of metal parts?" Connor asked.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"The kid's got harder a head than I thought," Connor muttered to Duncan through the side of his mouth.  
  
The phone rang, Duncan figured it was Tessa saying she'd be late or something.  
  
"Hello."  
  
"Duncan."  
  
"Something up, Tess?"  
  
"As a matter of fact, yes."  
  
[Can I call them or what?] Duncan thought.  
  
"What is it?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I was visiting a friend of mine, Elizabeth Anderson, and apparently I'm going to be staying here longer than I figured," Tessa said.  
  
"What's up?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I'm at her apartment on the 14th floor over on Runninburne Lane, down below, 3 cars collided into each other practically just outside the front door, so we can't get out for a while," Tessa said.  
  
"What about the fire escape?"  
  
"The fools who own the building took it down."  
  
"Back door?"  
  
"You don't even want to know what's outside the back door, so I might be stuck here for a while. So what's happening over there?"  
  
"Well, for one thing, Connor decided to drop in."  
  
"Connor? That idiot who punched you out the last time?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Yep, that's Connor," Duncan laughed, "always making his point stick."  
  
"Well, it looks like I might be a while so....."  
  
"Don't worry, you just get out of there in one piece when you can.....yes.......we'll be fine....yes.....you too.......goodbye."  
  
"What's wrong?" Richie asked.  
  
"Tessa was visiting a friend of hers at her apartment, there's been a triple car line up on the streets right next to the front door, they're on the 14th floor and the fire escape has been taken down, and the back door.....never mind the back door.....so it looks like it's just going to be us for a while," Duncan said.  
  
"Allright with me," Connor said, "I spent 60 years with you alone, I think we could stand a few more hours with each other."  
  
"Then it's settled?"  
  
"Settled."  
  
However, it wasn't settled until Connor was offically through, and that came when he punched Duncan in the jaw and knocked him out.  
  
"Now it's settled," Connor smiled.  
  
End of chapter 6. 


	7. 3 Pests in a Mess

3 Pests in a Mess  
  
Duncan woke up and found himself on the couch, at first he couldn't remember how he wound up like that, at the moment, all he knew was his bottom jaw hurt all the way down to his neck. Then he remembered, Connor......Connor? Duncan sat up and looked around, and he came face to face with Connor.  
  
"Afternoon sugar lips," Connor laughed, "have a nice rest?"  
  
"I can never have any rest when you come into town, Connor, what happened? Where's Richie?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Right here," Richie came through the doorway, "you were out of it for a while, I was starting to get worried about you."  
  
"How long have I been out?" Duncan asked.  
  
"About an hour," Richie said.  
  
"Yeah, I don't know why but...you weren't out for 10 minutes Richie decided to put you on the couch," Connor told him.  
  
"You what?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Don't let him fool you, he's a lot stronger than he looks," Connor said.  
  
"I'm probably going to be the only teenager around here with a hernia though," Richie told him.  
  
"What am I going to do with you 2?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I'd suggest doing something about the sleeping arrangements," Connor said.  
  
"Sleeping arrangements?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yeah, apparently Connor decided to drop by, but he said no hotel around here will take him," Richie said.  
  
"I can see why," Duncan rubbed his jaw, "do you do that when they ask for a tip?"  
  
"This is no joke, Duncan, I can't afford to stop off at any hotels because this is a bad time," Connor said.  
  
"You mean with that Raoul Blake guy?" Richie asked.  
  
"You told him about Raoul?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Very much so, for a man of your worldly ways, you sure are short on words," Connor told him.  
  
"Can I see you in private?" Duncan grabbed Connor.  
  
"Have you seen this place? The only private place is the bathroom."  
  
"Fine, then we'll settle it in there," Duncan said.  
  
Duncan grabbed Connor and threw him in the bathroom and shut the door.  
  
"Something the matter?" Connor asked.  
  
"Yes something's the matter, you told Richie that Raoul is an Immortal, who is half human, half electricity, that is on the prowl, looking for certain people to kill?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I told him my business was finding and tracking down murderers, and Raoul was a special case...I told him that he escaped from a mental asylum a couple of months ago from the United States, and the police have spread their dragnets throughout all the states through East Germany and haven't been able to find him, and that's where I come in," Connor said.  
  
"And did he?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Hell no, he escaped from a mental asylum right here in France, how they got him in the first place is beyond me," Connor said.  
  
"Must've been dead at the time," Duncan thought.  
  
"And I told him that odds are he's checked into a hotel for the time being, and he's going to be in the lobby at every given chance to make sure I come in at the right time for the kill," Connor told him.  
  
"And if he's anything like you told me earlier, we've got our hands tied with him," Duncan said.  
  
"Yeah......but odds are he won't think to look for me here," Connor responded.  
  
"So you're going to stay here?"  
  
"For a while......in the meantime, what's this problem Richie's been having at night?"  
  
"Sleepwalking, I don't know how but he does, he gets out of the building and roams around the streets all night like he knows where he's going," Duncan said.  
  
"And you've been using the same method on him I used on you," Connor realized.  
  
"Sort of."  
  
"What do you mean sort of?" Connor asked.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"How long does it take to clear away a triple car pileup outside a building door?" Richie asked.  
  
"They got that done hours ago, but seeing as how Tessa hasn't seen this friend of hers in about 15 years, she figured they better catch up as much as they can, considering this woman can come and go like the wind...So it's going to be the 3 of us tonight."  
  
"Wonderful.........who's sleeping on the couch?" Richie asked.  
  
"Definately not you," Connor told him, "we're all staying in the same bed tonight."  
  
"All of us?" Richie asked.  
  
"Yeah, I don't know what you're worried about, in the war, I shared a bed with 8 other guys about the size of Duncan, we got through it," Connor said.  
  
"What war?"  
  
"Huh?" Connor asked.  
  
"What war? Vietnam? The Persian Gulf War? What?"  
  
"Uhhhhhhhhhh........any of them will do, I don't care," Connor said.  
  
Connor had forgotten that Duncan didn't want Richie to know about Immortals for the time being.  
  
[That son of a bitch,] Duncan thought, [that was the Civil War.]  
  
"So what if it was, I'm tired, I'm exhausted, and I'm in no mood to butt heads with you tonight, Duncan," Connor said.  
  
Duncan didn't have to be a genius to know how Connor knew that, he knew because it was the only war he participated in.  
  
"Aha!" Connor pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his suitcase.  
  
"What's that for?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well, although Duncan is very reliable and extremely strong, I think breaking your habit of sleepwalking is a 2 man job," Connor said.  
  
Richie gave Duncan an extremely uneasy look, it was okay with him when it was just Duncan and Tessa on the other side, but being chained to this guy too?  
  
"Why do I get the feeling I should be in some awful movie right about now? One with a bedroom full of stuff that belongs in a dungeon?" Richie asked.  
  
"Trust me Richie, Connor will be a lot easier on you than he was with me," Duncan said.  
  
"Well, I guess I got no choice, either I stay cuffed to you two like a chain gang, or I get my jaw broken down the middle like a set of bowling pins," Richie said.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Allright Richie, get into bed," Duncan told him.  
  
"You sure this is such a good idea?" Richie asked.  
  
"Believe me, Connor's about as harmless as they get," Duncan said.  
  
"Yeah, I saw how harmless he was earlier," Richie replied.  
  
"That was different.....he won't lay a hand on you."  
  
"You just better see to it," Richie said.  
  
Richie took off his boots and slipped into bed on the right side.  
  
"Not there, in the middle," Duncan told him.  
  
However, when Duncan saw Richie wasn't moving, he was ready to push him to the middle, Richie jumped over Duncan and over to the other side of the room.  
  
"Richie."  
  
"Not me!" Richie told him.  
  
"Rich."  
  
"Nothing doing."  
  
"Either you get into bed or I'll have Connor put you in," Duncan said.  
  
Well, Richie was in no mood to duke it out with Connor, so he did as he was told.  
  
"Allright, let's get this going, I've gotta get out of here by the crack of dawn, I'll be no good if I don't get any sleep," Connor said.  
  
"Right," Duncan agreed.  
  
Duncan took Richie's right wrist and cuffed it with his, and Connor cuffed his wrist to Richie's left. That was the easy part, getting all of them into bed was going to be no easy task, they kept stepping on each other, jumping over each other's heads, throwing each other down, tossing and turning, shoving each other around, pushing one another to the other side, somehow or another, they finally all got into bed.  
  
"Finally," Connor said under his breath.  
  
"Let's just try and get some sleep," Duncan said, too exhausted for a fight.  
  
"No argument there," Richie said, "goodnight."  
  
"Goodnight," Duncan barked.  
  
"Yeah, yeah......goodnight," Connor added.  
  
However, the good part of the night was about to go out the window, at 2:00 that morning, Richie got up and jerked Duncan and Connor up. And they jerked him back down into bed, half an hour later, he tried it again, and they pulled him down again. That kept up for another 5 times that night, come morning, Connor was ready to leave.  
  
"Don't think you've seen the end of me for the time being, I'm going to stay in town until I can figure out how to get Raoul out of the picture," Connor told Duncan.  
  
"Well, I wouldn't thinkt it would be all that hard, all you really have to do is get his head out of the picture," Duncan laughed.  
  
"Make jokes now, until you've seen this freak of nature son of a bitch I'm talking about, you have no idea how bad it gets in a fight with him," Connor told him, "and, I'll see if I can find anything out about this Pierson fellow."  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Half an hour later, Richie came out of the shower, still half asleep.  
  
"Where's Connor?"  
  
"He left already, but he gave me a warning, he's going to stay in town until he can find out where Raoul is currently staying," Duncan said.  
  
"So, how bad did things get last night?" Richie asked.  
  
"You don't remember? Didn't you see your wrists?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I didn't look."  
  
"I thought you would because of all the chafing, look," Duncan rolled up his sleeve.  
  
There were numerous red marks all over it where the cuff was.  
  
"And Connor was the same?" Richie asked.  
  
"Pretty much...you must've gotten us up half a dozen times last night," Duncan said.  
  
"I don't remember any of it, and I think I would've remembered getting jerked into bed several times," Richie said.  
  
"Every time I expected you to wake up and say 'what is it?', so, was there anything else last night that I should know about?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Not really..."  
  
However, Duncan could tell Richie was lying, and he made it clear to him as well.  
  
"Allright, truth is, I don't want to tell you because I don't know how you'll react and I don't wanna get hit," Richie said.  
  
"Why?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Well, it was kind of funny, but at the same time it wasn't," Richie said.  
  
"Richie, I'm not going to hit you, now come on, what happened?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Well, you were talking to this guy, who planned to blow up an armored car...however, that didn't work, so you took the bomb in your car and drove as far away as you could with him following. You reached the stopping off point, but you couldn't get out of your car in time, you got blown up, and bounced off this other guy's car. Then you were about to cuss him out, but you passed out. Then when you came to, he said 'no hard feelings?', and you said 'ah no, why let a little thing like being BLOWN UP come between us, huh?', and then you chased him around the car and pinned him on the hood and you were about to choke him," Richie explained.  
  
"Anything else?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yeah, later, you had him tied up at your place, and we were about to drop him out of the window, when you said you had an idea, the next thing I knew, you blew him up!" Richie said.  
  
"Some dream," Duncan said.  
  
However, Duncan couldn't help but wonder if these dreams of Richie's really meant anything, and he was starting to wonder if and how they were going to get tangled up into Raoul's plans...  
  
End of chapter 7. 


	8. Rendezvous with Raoul

Rendezvous with Raoul  
  
"Good morning, Duncan, how was it last night?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Awful, I got stuck in the bed with Richie and Connor, we were all handcuffed to each other, and trying to get into bed, we were stomping on each other's faces, throwing each other down, it was hell.....how was your visit?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Fine...so is he still here?"  
  
"If you mean Connor, no, he left about an hour ago, if you mean Richie, yes, he's in his room again...you know, all the times I wanted him to stop running the streets and blasting that noise he called music, now I just want him to do it again," Duncan explained.  
  
"That's to be expected," Tessa said, "so, did he try and get away again?"  
  
"Oh yeah, we pulled him back down in bed I don't know how many times...And I don't know who it was, but at 3 in the morning, I had to take my shoe and beat someone's foot in the middle of the night," Duncan said.  
  
"Why was that?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Because someone had their foot a little too close for comfort to my......britches," Duncan said, for lack of better words.  
  
Tessa couldn't help but laugh at that one, within a few minutes, she practically turned into a hyena, and she tried to contain herself long enough to ask, "who was it?"  
  
"I'm not sure, but I think it was Connor," Duncan said.  
  
"How can you be so sure?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I can't, it's just that after I hit the foot, Connor smacked his face, turned over and started snoring again," Duncan said.  
  
Tessa went back to belting it out like a wild animal, she only regretted she wasn't there last night to watch. She rested her head on the kitchen counter while she tried to calm down, then she got a look at Duncan, who wasn't too pleased by it.  
  
"I'm sorry," she said, practically choking on the sinus, "so why was Connor here?"   
  
"Why isn't what bothers me, it's how, he immediately showed up here on the second floor, like he dropped from an airplane or something...When I first saw him, he was a wreck, he had cuts and gashes going all the way down his body, he looked like hell, Tess. He told me there's a new Immortal in town who apparently loves playing cat and mouse with other Immortals. Because the way he does it is he tracks down an Immortal, knocks the stuffing out of them, makes them think he's about to take their heads, then he leaves," Duncan said.  
  
"Apparently, he's not too resortful," Tessa said.  
  
"Or human, Connor told me when he struck him, sparks came from the injury, like he was a machine or something," Duncan told her.  
  
"Perhaps if he threw water on him, he'd rust and short circuit long enough for you to behead him," Tessa said.  
  
"This is no laughing matter Tess, this is hell on Earth......Connor said Raoul wouldn't think to look for me, but I think he's got that planned on a later agenda," Duncan said.  
  
"Raoul? So he has a name?" Tessa asked, "You kept referring to the Immortal as 'him' and 'it' for so long, I was starting to wonder if he even had a name."  
  
The phone rang in the other room, Richie got to it first.  
  
"Hello......who is this? Ether who?"  
  
Duncan figured this was a call he better take, it was probably another deadbeat dealer, he knew plenty of them who had foreign names, and he didn't expect Richie to know any of them.  
  
"I've got it in here, Rich," he called, "hello, this is Duncan MacLeod."  
  
"Is Connor there?"  
  
"No he isn't, is there a message for him?"  
  
"Yes, you tell him that he better show up down by the docks tonight by 11:00 or there's going to be hell to pay, you got that?"  
  
"Yes I do...do you mind if I ask who is calling?"  
  
There was a click, Duncan hung up the phone in the kitchen as well.  
  
"I guess he did," Duncan said.  
  
"Who was it?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Was it that Raoul guy?" Richie asked.  
  
"How did you know?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Just guessed...you sounded pretty serious, and when he hung up.......only one thing to assume," Richie said.  
  
"Well you assumed right, he said that he expects Connor to show up at the docks tonight," Duncan said.  
  
"And what're you going to do?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I can't reach Connor, he wouldn't tell me where he was going, all he said was he was going to stay in the area," Duncan said, "so, only one thing to do."  
  
"Duncan, you're not going in his place," Tessa told him.  
  
"Like I have a choice? It's him or me, and personally, I'm practically dying to find out what the guy's really like," Duncan said.  
  
"Do you need backup?" Richie asked.  
  
Duncan sighed in relief, Richie demanding to go along with Duncan, this was more like old times.  
  
"No, but apparently you need a backup brain if you think you're going with me," Duncan said.  
  
"Come on, Mac!" Richie said.  
  
"Richie, this guy is a murderer, there's no telling how many people he's killed before and no telling how many more he will unless someone stops him, and since we can't find Connor, it looks like that someone's going to be me," Duncan told him.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
That night, Duncan headed out to the docks as planned, he told Tessa not to wait up, odds were he wouldn't be coming back for a while.....or at all.  
  
As Duncan waited for Raoul to show up, he rolled up his sleeve and checked his watch, 10:59, so he should be expecting him at any time, he figured.  
  
"Duncan MacLeod, came in place of Connor did you?"  
  
Duncan turned around and got a look at Mario, he was pretty gruesome, he was built pretty much like an Amazon Connor, with stitches going down his face and chest, and he had a dumb grin on his face. The same grin just about anyone had when they were about to kill someone.   
  
"I guess you could say that, he's dead, I'm his new gore-addicted replacement," Duncan said.  
  
"Don't make me laugh, you'll hardly be worth my time," Raoul told him.  
  
"Well we'll just have to see about that," Duncan said.  
  
However, much to Duncan's surprise, he was already gone. Apparently Connor was right when he said Raoul wasn't like any Immortal he'd dealt with before, Raould struck him from behind with the blade of his sword, knocking him on the ground. Duncan got up and threw his coat off, there were already streaks of blood on it, this was war. Duncan got up and he and Raoul got stuck in a fine mess of a round of hitsen mitsurugi ryu, that ended when Raould grabbed Duncan with one hand and threw him on the ground.  
  
By now, Duncan was coughing up blood like a dog that should be put out of its misery, which apparently was what Raoul had in mind. He brought the blade of his sword down, ready to sub-divide Duncan, he rolled out of the way, got up and charged forth like a raging bull.  
  
As Duncan approached, Raoul took a battle stance, his left leg placed firmly behind him to hold hid ground as he extended his right leg, sliding forward a little. He held his scabbard at his side firmly and grasped the handle of his sword in his right hand, but didn't draw it. He waited, staring as Duncan got closer and closer, waiting for the right moment.  
  
In a flash Raoul drew his sword in a swinging motion to the right, the tip going in an arc pattern. A clash sounded loudly as sparks flew. The blade of Raoul's sword met with Duncan's above their heads.   
  
"Not swift enough old man," Duncan said with a confident look as he moved to counter.  
  
"Then how about this?" Raoul asked as he crouched and swung his scabbord with his left arm, hitting Duncan hard in the back of the legs behind the knees, causing him to topple backwards onto the ground and hit his head hard.  
  
Duncan groaned as he started to get up, but found himself at the business end of Raoul's sword, pointed right for his nose.   
  
"You're obviously not familiar with the doube battou-jitsu are you? It's a little technique I picked up in Japan centuries ago, from a wanderer who called himself "Kenshin"," Raoul explained.  
  
Duncan decided to aim lower than Raoul had planned, with one swift move of his katana, he slit Raoul's knees, and brought him down within the same move. With this, Duncan decided it was time to end this chaos.  
  
This was no good because Raoul used the Battou Jitsu on him again, and when Duncan charged at him, this time, he was faster than Raoul had expected, so he beat him over the head with both his scabbard and katana, even after that, Raoul beat Duncan on the back with his scabbard, it knocked him down, and then Raoul stepped on Duncan's head and rubbed his boot in his ear, then he walked away, leaving Duncan a bloody, practically lifeless mess.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"And after that, he just left, Connor was right, I expected this guy to behead me and hang it above his mantel, and he just picks up and leaves...I don't believe this," Duncan said.  
  
"I have a question, are you going to be throwing up blood all night or should I expect that to end sometime soon?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I think the worst is over," Duncan said, "where's Richie?"  
  
"If you mean you don't want him to hear this, I think it's too late," Tessa said.  
  
"What?" Duncan asked.  
  
Richie came up the stairs, apparently, he'd been hiding out between the first and second floor listening.  
  
"Oh boy," Duncan said under his breath, "Rich, I think I better explain something."  
  
"What? This guy Raoul's obviously sick, I figured he killed people like gutting them like fish, but beheading them? That's crazy," Richie said.  
  
"Personally, I agree," Tessa added.  
  
"Yeah, well you two can have your debate after Raoul's dead," Duncan said.  
  
"Depending on how well he does this, that probably won't be for another 80 years," Tessa replied.  
  
"Personally, I have to agree with Tessa," Richie said, "apparently this guy's not going to get caught by the police, hardly any of the great killers do. Walter Sickert died no one ever knowing who he was, Lizzie Borden died of natural causes at age 63, Al Capone died in the hospital age 48, that insane patient the movie Halloween was based on......well he was a different case, but nevertheless, it's almost impossible to catch killers like that."  
  
"Been down to the library again, huh?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yeah, I was reading on the story of Jack the Ripper, turns out, he only really killed 6 prostitutes as far as the police knew, only 5 of which they really talk about, 13 other deaths came up, but they were never able to find out if Sickert did do them in," Richie said.  
  
"I should hope you're not reading those books as to thinking of a way to kill me," Duncan said.  
  
"Why would I do that?" Richie asked.  
  
Duncan couldn't tell Richie how many times he tried something stupid that always almost got the both of them killed, but he didn't figure Richie was up for it yet.  
  
"Never mind......Richie..."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"It's almost 1 in the morning, what're you still doing up?"  
  
"I couldn't sleep, I wanted to hear how things went with Raoul, and Tessa said you probably wouldn't say with me in the room, so I've been down on the staircase," Richie said.  
  
"What about now? Can you sleep now?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Uh-uh," Richie shook his head, "after hearing what that guy did to you, I'm wired."  
  
Richie went into his room and shut the door, Duncan waited until he was sure Richie wouldn't be listening.  
  
"He's wired.....you know, the last time I heard him say that, he went out one night, the next day 29 people complained about someone ringing their doorbells and running," Duncan reminded Tessa.  
  
"What a week that was, you were watching him at every turn, like he was a prisoner," Tessa laughed, "now he's reading on the world's famous unsolved murders. You know he read all those books today?"  
  
"And I used to think those crappy horror movies would make him paranoid," Duncan laughed, "reading about a man slashing women's throats removing ALL of their organs, a woman slashing her parents to death, 10 on her mother, 12 on her father, several of which punctured the skull, and the skull itself and the axe head used in the murder are kept in some crazy museum to this day...It's a crazy world we live in, Tess."  
  
"I know....Duncan, do you think Raoul will come after Richie?" Tessa asked.  
  
"What for? He doesn't have any reason to," Duncan said.  
  
"Not exactly," Tessa replied.  
  
"Oh...what do you know that I don't?" Duncan asked.  
  
"When you left, Connor came up, he asked where you were, when I said you went down in his place, he said he needed to speak with me in private, so he had Richie leave the room. But I think he still found a way to listen...Connor told me that in the past month, Raoul has tracked down 7 Immortals, all of which he left the first time, the second time, if he couldn't find them, he would find the one thing that mattered to them most and.....you know....He said the same would probably happen with Richie in your case, so I think we need to keep a close eye on him," Tessa said.  
  
"I agree," Duncan said.  
  
Duncan headed over to Richie's room, he had a lot of explaining to do...  
  
End of chapter 8 


	9. Too Smart for your own Good

Too Smart For Your Own Good  
  
Duncan quietly slipped into Richie's room, he found Richie had fallen asleep on the bed with the lights on, apparently he wasn't as wired as he thought. The first thing that came to Duncan's head was to put the boy UNDER the covers, but the last thing he wanted was to wake him up. Then something caught Duncan's eye, he turned to the table and saw the books he'd borrowed from the library, all something on murder, unsolved crimes, hauntings, and famous killers.  
  
Duncan also noticed somehow some of Tessa's books had gotten mixed up with his, which included the V.C. Andrews series, Duncan assumed Richie hadn't gotten down to them yet and he was for keeping it that way. So, Duncan took those books and slid them under the dresser, the last thing Richie needed was to be getting ideas.  
  
However, he didn't need Flowers in the Attic for that, all the other books could easily give him ideas, Amazing but True Unsolved Crimes (Lizzie Borden being the last one and apparently more preferred one), 2 books on Jack the Ripper aka Walter Sickert, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, the deaths of the Grimes Sisters, Resurrection Mary, Richard Speck, a man who dated and killed 8 women, Adolph Luetgert, a man who murdered his wife in one of the most grotesque ways, in a sausage vat, who only lived to regret it as his wife returned from the grave to haunt him in prison, Kenneth Hansen who had raped and murdered 3 young boys in 1955 and disposed of the bodies, John Wayne Gacy, and several more.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Around 2 o' clock, Richie woke up and found Duncan with his feet on the table, reading one of the books on the murders and hauntings in Chicago.  
  
"Mac......what're you doing?" Richie asked, still half asleep.  
  
"Just reading your books.....maybe it's just me but I don't get it, and I hope you haven't been getting ideas from this, but how could this Gacy character, rape, murder, and bury over 30 teenaged boys under his house, garage, in the crawlspace, and not get found out after already being arrested for harrassing boys as it was?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I guess the police weren't ever that trustful to begin with," Richie replied, still groggy.  
  
Then something hit Richie, he grabbed the clock on the windowsill and read the time, "Mac, how long have I been asleep?"  
  
"About an hour," Duncan said, not lifting his eyes from the book, "how many of these books have you read today?"  
  
"Why?" Richie asked.  
  
That grabbed Duncan's attention, there seemed to be a tense nerve in Richie's tone.  
  
"Relax Rich.....if I had half the sick mind of these people, I would've hung myself!" Duncan said.  
  
"Are you serious?" Richie asked.  
  
"Believe me, I wouldn't have just done it the easy way, I would've tied the knot myself, making it very uncomfortable and I would've choked to death in the progress," Duncan added.  
  
"So why've you been in here?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well, basically I was waiting for you to wake up," Duncan continued with the story on Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.  
  
"Why?" Richie asked.  
  
Richie still sounded tense, Duncan had to think what to say, he had to choose his words carefully, if he said something like 'if you keep that up, I'm going to hog tie you' or 'if you don't stop that, I'm going to wrestle you down on the bed', it would only make the situation worse.  
  
"If you don't calm down, I'm going to take you down to nearest shrink in the area, and let him see what he can come up with," Duncan said.  
  
With that, Richie became quiet and sat down on the bed, Duncan closed the book and walked over to him.  
  
"Look Rich, I know you're still relatively new with some things around here, some things I haven't told you about, but I am hardly even a scrap as insane and demented as these figures you read about," Duncan said, shuffling through the pages.  
  
"I know," Richie turned away.  
  
"So why are you acting like this?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Because I heard you and Tessa talking earlier," Richie said.  
  
"About what?" Duncan asked.  
  
"About 'it' being the same with me in your case, and keeping a close eye on me, Mac, I wasn't born yesterday, and amnesic or not I usually know what stuff like that means," Richie said.  
  
"In most cases, you'd probably be right, but just not in this case," Duncan said.  
  
"Then what were you talking about?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well....it's hard to explain, but.....it's about Raoul.....you see, when he tracks down people, he gets them so bloody they're convinced he's about to kill them, and then he leaves. As was the case with me, but that's not the end of it, if he doesn't find them again within an amount of time, he goes after the thing that's most important to them...And, in my case, that's you," Duncan said.  
  
"Are you serious?" Richie asked.  
  
"Of course, I wouldn't keep you around for 2 months so far, with every risk of being arrested, mugged or murdered if I didn't care about you, and that's pretty much all the last 2 months have been," Duncan told him.  
  
"But Mac..."  
  
"Richie, you're a smart kid, however, I think it's just possible that in cases as this, you're just too smart for your own good," Duncan said.  
  
"How do you figure that?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well, you build up on information and pile more information on top of that, sooner or later, you're bound to get some of it mixed together," Duncan said.  
  
"I suppose......hey!"  
  
"What?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Something just hit me, where's Tessa?"  
  
"Shush!" Duncan stood up, "she's already asleep, I don't want to wake her, you remember how she was the other night."  
  
"Yeah, I remember.....which reminds me, did you get the lock for the door yet?" Richie asked.  
  
"Yes, but I'm sure as soon as you get your memory back, you'll be up to your Harry Houdini acts again, picking the locks at every given chance," Duncan said.  
  
"Where would I keep picks?" Richie asked.  
  
"That's what I'd like to know, last time I checked, you had 3 sets, one at the bottom of your shoe, one in your pocket, and one....and I don't know how this never slipped, you always kept one in the rag you wear on your head," Duncan told him.  
  
"Well....I guess I got into a lot of scrapes with that, huh?" Richie asked.  
  
"Sometimes, sometimes they actually came in handy," Duncan told him.  
  
"When?" Richie asked.  
  
"I can't begin to tell you how many times we've gotten locked out of the building, I swear, there's never enough keys for this place," Duncan said.  
  
"I guess sometimes being a punk from the streets comes in handy, huh?"  
  
"I can't begin to tell you about that one either...I remember one time, we got mixed up in a bank robbery somehow, the robbers were shooting at us, and in all the excitement, I dropped my key somewhere, so you hotwired the car and we were out of there like the devil was chasing us, and we got back here before anybody noticed," Duncan told him.  
  
"Okay, I just have one question for the moment," Richie said.  
  
"What?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Are you gonna punish me for all this stuff when I CAN remember doing it?" Richie asked.  
  
Duncan was about to laugh at that one, but he could tell Richie was serious about it.  
  
"No," Duncan replied, "I don't see any reason to, once you look at this stuff from all angles, I can't say you really did anything wrong."  
  
"So......if Raoul's going to on the hunt for me, what're we gonna do about that?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well, I have an idea," Duncan said, "but you're going to have to be pretty open minded."  
  
"How open minded?" Richie asked.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Tessa woke up the next morning and saw Duncan never came to bed, she figured he must've spent the night in Richie's room, making sure Raoul didn't get him. So she slipped into Richie's room and couldn't believe what she saw.  
  
Duncan and Richie apparently spent the night in the same bed, but not any normal way, Richie slept at the head on one side while Duncan slept using the foot of the bed as the head on the other side, Tessa walked over to the side Duncan was on and tapped him.  
  
"Duncan."  
  
"Hmmm?"  
  
"What're you doing?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Oh, well.....things didn't go over so easily with Richie last night, so that took a while, and by the time we worked out our plans, we figured if we went back in the bedroom you'd wake up, so I spent the night over here," Duncan answered.  
  
"I don't believe that," Tessa said.  
  
"You're telling me, for a grungy teenager, you'd be surprised how clean this boy keeps his feet," Duncan rolled his eyes.  
  
"Duncan," Tessa slapped him on the shoulder, "......so, how did he take the news?"  
  
"Not very well, at first, he twisted it up into something else, but once I explained the full plan, it worked out better, and someting else."  
  
"What?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I think we finally broke Richie's sleepwalking habit, he didn't move all night after 2:30."  
  
"Well that's good, we won't have to worry about him so much now, right?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Wrong, now that I know Raoul's out there, we're going to have to keep even more a close eye on the lad, especially at night," Duncan said.  
  
"You really think we have a chance of protecting him from Raoul?" Tessa asked.  
  
"If not us, Tess, then who can?" Duncan asked.  
  
Tessa had to agree, right now she and Duncan were pretty much the best and pretty much the only chance Richie had of surviving Raoul. Duncan figured if he could find Connor and find out everything he could about this guy, maybe he could find a weak point, but with no logical way to find Connor, that wasn't going to be happening anytime soon.  
  
End of chapter 9. 


	10. Murder at Midnight

Murder at Midnight  
  
"Duncan, would you care running this by me again?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Allright, well, since Raoul's obviously going to come looking for Richie, we're going to have to keep a good eye on him," Duncan said.  
  
"And what if he decides he doesn't want to come downstairs again when you open up the store?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Then you stay with him up here."  
  
"What if Connor comes back?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Let me know," Duncan said.  
  
"Won't you know from downstairs?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Not the way he's been coming around lately, he's been showing up out of nowhere up here," Duncan told her.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
About an hour later, Duncan got a call from Connor, turned out he was staying about 15 miles away from the shop.  
  
"I still can't believe you were so stupid to go in my place," Connor said.  
  
"Well, you wouldn't tell me where you were staying so I figured..."  
  
"Well you figured wrong, I was going to have this baffoon come looking for me and finish him off," Connor said.  
  
"How?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Well, I started thinking....one Immortal alone probably can't get rid of Raoul, but several could..."  
  
"Connor, you know just as well as I do that's not allowed in the rules," Duncan said.  
  
"You gotta bend rules sometime, MacLeod," Connor said.  
  
"How do you figure that?" Duncan asked.  
  
Something hit Duncan, there was an Immortal close by, Connor walked in with a cell phone to his ear.  
  
"That's easy, the Game is like civilization, which is much like a T-shirt, and to bend/break the rules is to lie as it is like the thread that holds the shirt together," Connor eyed a loose thread on Duncan's shirt, "civilization keeps getting pulled by the truth," Connor yanked the thread, "civilization falls apart."  
  
As did Duncan's shirt, the loose thread came from the middle, and with no middle, the top and bottom fell off...  
  
"If you're done giving me a visual aid, what did you have in mind?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Well, I looked up that Adam Pierson fellow and got next to nothing, however, I did find out there's a connection between him and Methos."  
  
"Who is Methos?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Only the oldest Immortal living, 5,000 years old to be exact," Connor said.  
  
"Let's see, 5,000 years old, this is 1992, so that would mean he was born in..."  
  
"Math was never your major, Duncan, give it a rest."  
  
"So, are you and this Methos character going to slice him up into ice cubes or what?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Naaaaaaa, Methos is a living legend, a myth, it's hard to catch a myth, you know?" Connor asked.  
  
"Don't ask me, I spent a year in England in the late 1800s, I could even catch a cold, letalone the most feared killer," Duncan laughed.  
  
Tessa slipped down the stairs and over to Duncan.  
  
"Duncan, I think you better go have a look at Richie," Tessa said.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I don't know, he locked himself in his room and he won't come out, he's not saying anything," Tessa told him.  
  
Duncan turned to Connor, apparently he'd have to get back to him on his plans for Raoul's beheading later.  
  
"I'll take care of this," Duncan headed for the stairs.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Duncan jiggered with the knob on Richie's door, apparently he didn't want to be disturbed. So, Duncan forced his weight onto the side of the door, opening it, and taking off a piece of the wall to go with it.  
  
He saw Richie on the bed, laid flat out and as low as he could get himself, as Duncan approached him, he could only wonder why the boy was crying.  
  
"Richie....Richie, what's the matter?"  
  
Richie didn't answer, he didn't even face Duncan, he turned his face the other way, Duncan looked the other way, and Richie quickly learned Duncan was going to look wherever he did, so he buried his face under a pillow.  
  
Duncan could see where this was going, so he sat down on the other side of the bed and pulled Richie over to his side. He placed his hands on Richie's face so he'd face him, instead of turn away again.  
  
"Tell me what's wrong," Duncan said.  
  
Richie peeled Duncan's hands off his face and told him...  
  
"Earlier......I felt sick and like I was going to pass out, only then....I started to remember...I could remember before the accident," Richie said.  
  
Surely Duncan misunderstood this, either Richie remembered Duncan killing someone, or there was something else to it.  
  
"Now wait a minute Rich, don't cry, this is supposed to be good news...why're you crying?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Because I only started to remember a few things and then I stopped....I couldn't remember anymore......and I started thinking.........what if I stay like this? What if I go through the rest of my days only really remembering some shred of my life? What's gonna happen if I can't remember?"  
  
"You will remember Richie."  
  
"You can't guarantee that, you don't know that for sure."  
  
"Rich, you keep remembering new things every day, and at any time, there could be something that'll spark your memory like that..."  
  
Apparently Duncan was better at giving advice than making his fingers snap.  
  
"The point is, you'll have your memory back before you know it, and all this will be behind you," Duncan said, "but Richie....there's something I have to know."  
  
"What?"   
  
"What do you remember?" Duncan asked.  
  
"It's kinda hard to explain but......there was you, and Connor, and this other guy, and you all had swords drawn and you looked like you were going to kill each other.......then...then I tried getting the files from the orphanage about my parents...didn't even get down to the front door and I got caught.....everything else is just little tidbits...."  
  
"Well at least you remember, that's the important thing," Duncan told him.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"What happened?" Tessa asked.  
  
"He's fine, turns out earlier, some things started coming back to him, then after a few seconds, he couldn't remember anything else," Duncan replied.  
  
"Does he know about....." Tessa said.  
  
"I don't think so, although he does remember meeting us, and he remembers Slan Quince," Duncan said.  
  
"Anything else?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Hardly," Duncan said, "so Connor, what was it you wanted to speak to me about?"  
  
"Never mind, I've gotta get going, I'll come by and tell you later tonight," Connor said on his way out.  
  
"Suit yourself," Duncan said, shutting the door.  
  
"So how is he?" Tessa asked.  
  
"He was a little upset earlier, starting wonder, what if he always stays like this, never knowing who he is, never knowing where he came from," Duncan said.  
  
"And why don't you sound concerned?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I told Richie when he first came here, one of the great things of being an orphan is you get to decide who you are, where you belong, where you came from, who you choose to be, look at me, I spent 30 years in the wrong family and I turned out okay," Duncan said.  
  
"True, but when you told him that, he had some idea of who he was, where he came from," Tessa reminded him.  
  
"That's right, and if it turns out he doesn't like what he remembers, he can start over again," Duncan said.  
  
"Allright, I just have one more question," Tessa said.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What happened to your shirt?" Tessa asked.  
  
Duncan looked down and remembered Connor yanked it apart with his 'Game is like a T-shirt' theory.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Richie had grown restless, but didn't feel like running into Duncan, so he stayed upstairs, but he started to grow even more curious about his surroundings, so he went into Duncan's room to do a little snooping.  
  
"Hundert die Flaschen aus der Gerstensaft an der die Mauer, hundert die Flaschen aus der Gerstensaft, bringen eine die Daune, der Pass es rund-um, neunzig-neun die Flaschen aus der Gerstensaft an der die Mauer, neunzig-neun die Flaschen aus der Gerstensaft, bringen eine die Daune, der Pass es rund-um, neunzig-acht die Flaschen aus der Gerstensaft an der die Mauer."  
  
Hey, anybody could sing 99 bottles in English, Richie got a kick from trying in German...  
  
Richie opened a drawer on Duncan's dresser and came across a small wooden box, Richie raised the lid and saw a handgun.  
  
"Must be for when Duncan can't get to his sword," Richie thought.  
  
He checked the ammo, apparently Duncan hadn't used it in a while, it still had all the bullets in it, and there was no sign of recent use or cleaning.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
That night, Connor came back as planned.  
  
"Where's Richie?" he asked.  
  
"Last I heard, he said he was going down the street to pick up a few things," Duncan said.  
  
"At midnight?" Connor asked.  
  
"It's an all night place, he should be getting back any time now," Duncan said, "so what's your plan?"  
  
"Well, I figured..."  
  
However, Connor had no time to explain, Tessa came down the stairs in a blind panic, crying and screaming for Duncan.  
  
"What's the matter Tess?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Duncan, it's Richie.....I don't know what happened......I went in his room to see if he was back and..."  
  
"Oh God, Richie!"  
  
With that, Duncan rushed up the stairs with Connor and Tessa right behind him, Duncan ran in Richie's room and stopped in his tracks at the doorway. Richie had been shot and killed, whoever did it laid him on a white sheet on top of the bed, the gun was found near the body.  
  
"I don't believe this, this can't be happening," Duncan said.  
  
Connor approached the body, Richie had been shot in the temple and apparently had bled to death. As Duncan hovered over Richie's lifeless body, he felt tears welling up in his eyes, he couldn't believe it. He just never imagined Richie's life would end like this, especially right in his own home. It was at that moment that the tears dropped from his eyes and rolled down his face, Connor took Duncan back a few inches from the bed and restrained him in his arms.  
  
"Tessa, go notify the morgue," Connor said.  
  
Tessa went downstairs to phone the morgue and the police, Connor took Duncan in the next room to speak with him.  
  
"I just don't see how this could've happened," Duncan said.  
  
"He must've done it himself," Connor said.  
  
"That's ridiculous, Connor, he'd have no reason to, there's no way he could've," Duncan said.  
  
"This is your gun," Connor showed him.  
  
Duncan knew no one broke in and got his gun, Richie had to have been the one to pull the trigger.  
  
"I don't get it, why would he do this? I was going to help him, he knew I was going to help him!" Duncan grieved.  
  
"I think the best thing we can do now is say goodbye to the lad," Connor said.  
  
When Connor and Duncan went back into Richie's room, they were shocked, Richie's body was gone.  
  
"What happened here?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Well, either someone stole the body when our backs were turned, or the army came up with some crazy chemical and if that's the case........if that's the case we've got a real hell of a problem," Connor said.  
  
"Oh my God, I don't believe this, Richie's......"  
  
"What?"  
  
Duncan and Connor turned around and got scared half to death, if that was possible. Richie was standing in the doorway with a bloody towel in his hands.  
  
"Richie, what happened? Are you allright?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Richie replied.  
  
"How can this be? Richie, this has to be impossible, I saw you, you were dead," Duncan said.  
  
"Mac, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to let you or Tessa or anyone else know...I did it myself," Richie said.  
  
"Why did you do that?" Connor asked.  
  
"I had no choice, I figured if I let Raoul think I was dead when he came looking for me, he'd leave," Richie said.  
  
"But......how? You weren't breathing!"   
  
"If there's one thing I remember, it's how long I'm known to hold my breath, especially under water," Richie said.  
  
"No heart beat," Duncan said.  
  
Richie pulled a dull piece of sheet metal out of his shirt.  
  
"No pulse."  
  
Richie pulled a latex lifelike glove off his right hand.  
  
"And the blood?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Something I picked up, theatrical blood, looks, feels and thickens like the real stuff," Richie said.  
  
"Also clots like the real stuff.......what about the bullets?"  
  
"Blanks, picked them up too........Duncan, I'm sorry, but I had to do it," Richie said.  
  
"I understand, but Tessa's going to be harder to explain this too, and do me a favor, the next time you plan to kill yourself, let me in on your schedule," Duncan said.  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Come on, we better tell the morgue not to come," Duncan said.  
  
Duncan, Connor, and Richie headed downstairs, explained everything to Tessa and more or less the same to the morgue and solved that problem, now they had another, Connor's plan on how to get rid of Raoul.  
  
End of chapter 10 


	11. Operation: Kill Raoul

Operation: Kill Raoul  
  
"Okay Connor, let me get this straight, even though it's against the rules of the Game, you and a bunch of Immortals that Raoul has already tried to kill are going to track him down and behead him?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Behead, slice, dice, shish-kabob, and turn him into mincemeat," Connor added, "what do you think?"  
  
"Sounds bloody to me," Tessa said.  
  
"What about you, Duncan?" Connor asked.  
  
"Stupid!" Duncan replied.  
  
"It'll get rid of him," Connor said.  
  
"It's against the rules," Duncan reminded him.  
  
"Tessa was right, you ARE a boyscout," Connor said, "I'm going, if you change your mind, come down to 13138 98th Street, we'll be done there waiting for Raoul."  
  
With that Connor left, Duncan knew Connor had expected him to join with them, but Duncan had his own rules to follow, and this he explained to Tessa.  
  
"If Richie figured Raoul was going to come looking for him, he must've known when he would come, otherwise he wouldn't have known when to make it look like he was dead," Duncan said.  
  
"But how would he know? Unless someone tipped him off," Tessa said.  
  
"That's right, and the only person I know who could've done that is the same person who didn't seem so surprised about his death," Duncan told her.  
  
"You think Connor told him?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I don't think.....I know he did," Duncan said.  
  
And if Connor told Richie about that, odds were he told him more than Duncan wanted him to know...  
  
"So what're you going to do?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Well.......no sense is getting him up in the middle of the night, I'll ask him tomorrow," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan," Tessa said, "it IS tomorrow."  
  
"We better get some sleep, I need to be awake if I'm going to talk to Richie about this," Duncan said.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Morning Mac."  
  
"Morning, Rich," Duncan yawned, "Richie, I was wondering, what all did Connor tell you about yesterday?"  
  
"Huh?" Richie asked.  
  
"Rich, don't lie to me, I know he was the one who tipped you off about Raoul, did he tell you anything else?" Duncan asked.  
  
Richie remained quiet with a worried look on his face.  
  
"Rich....."  
  
Richie just held his head down and denied making any eye contact with Duncan.  
  
"Richie, I want you to look me in the eye and tell me what Connor told you," Duncan said.  
  
Richie kept his head down and when Duncan tried looking him in the eyes, Richie kept turning away.  
  
"Richie."  
  
Richie brought his head up, Duncan could tell by the way he looked that he just wanted to get this over with.  
  
"He told me that he rounded up a bunch of the people Raoul attacked and they're going to track him down and kill him, and he was hoping you'd help them, and since you aren't, he said I shouldn't tell you about it," Richie said.  
  
"Richie...I don't..........."  
  
Then something hit Duncan, Connor left last night after Duncan said he refused to help.  
  
"When did he say this?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Well, he told me about Raoul coming to look for me yesterday afternoon, and when I came across your gun, I figured I could take care of that problem. Then at about 3 last night, he came back and told me about the other part...but what I want to know is, isn't 13138 98th Street an old asylum?" Richie asked.  
  
"Yeah, it is.......caught fire in '78, since then, people have been using it as a hideout," Duncan replied.  
  
"So what're you going to do?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well, there's only one thing I can think of to do," Duncan said.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Duncan headed over to the address Connor had given him, he could tell there was trouble awaiting him when he arrived. It was anyone's guess as to whether or not Raoul had gotten there as well, so Duncan entered with his sword drawn, ready to behead the first thing that moved.  
  
"Duncan, so good to see you," Connor said.  
  
Duncan got a glimpse of the other Immortals, they didn't seem to friendly but they didn't look like they were his enemy either, so he put his sword away.  
  
"Connor, I swear, one of these days, you're going to be the end of me," Duncan told him.  
  
"Like that'll stop you, huh?" Connor asked, "allright, come on in, I'll introduce you."  
  
Connor took Duncan to the back of the room, where seven other Immortals waited.  
  
"What is this? A convention?" Duncan laughed.  
  
"Very funny........Duncan, this is Leo Athens, Clinch Freeman, Bryan Montesi, Caleb Johnson, Reinhardt Burke, Gabriel Grimes, and Hugh Bellain, this is the last set of Immortals Raoul battled with," Connor said.  
  
It took Duncan a few minutes to find anything to say, when it finally came to him, he extended his hand to Reinhardt.  
  
"N......Nice to meet you," Duncan said.  
  
"Wish I could say the same," Reinhardt clasped his hand with Duncan's.  
  
"Duncan, I think you remember Hugh Bellain," Connor pointed out.  
  
Ah yes, Hugh Bellain Duncan met in 1787, it was a vague acquaintance, but an acquaintance nevertheless.   
  
"Nice to see you again," Duncan said.  
  
"I wish I could say the same," Hugh told him.  
  
"Duncan, I don't know if you're aware of this, but the escape Richie made from Raoul was a close one, he's lucky to still be alive," Connor said.  
  
"Connor, I can't believe you're thinking of going through with this, this is against the rules," Duncan said.  
  
"Don't be such a bloody fool," Gabriel told him, "we've all lost someone, someone who was important to us, all by the same man, that's reason enough to want his head if I dare say, isn't it?" Gabriel asked.  
  
"Besides, even if it is against the rules," Caleb joined in, "it's only one Immortal, and one hell of a Quickening, and whoever gets that deserves it if you ask me."  
  
"After all," Leo added, "it's not like it would be the first time it's been done, especially in this case."  
  
"You've done this before?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yes, although not all of us, and not all for the same reason," Bryan added, "but sure enough, we've done it before."  
  
"You mean to tell me that of all the Immortals you've killed, every time, you did it by yourself?" Clinch asked.  
  
"Yes," Duncan said.  
  
Everyone scoffed and laughed and roared at that, like it was a joke.  
  
"Come on, MacLeod," Hugh said, "nobody does good in the Game if they have to go by the rules every time. Has there ever been a time when going by the rules got your ass kicked before?"  
  
"Hundreds of times, but I kept by it and won, so I wouldn't just rush into this," Duncan said.  
  
"What rush? We told him to meet us by midnight on Friday," Leo told him.  
  
"So what do you say, MacLeod, are you with us?" Gabriel asked.  
  
"No, I am not, I can't..."  
  
"Think about this, MacLeod," Reinhardt brought up, "Raoul finds out your boy is still alive, then he'll kill you, and him both, then where will you be?"  
  
Duncan froze at that one, he would and had put his life at risk to protect Richie, but if he couldn't even do that, then...  
  
"Think abou it, MacLeod, Ryan may have fooled him the other night, but how long will he be convinced that he's dead?" Reinhardt asked, "Your boy can only play dead to his eye for so long."  
  
"I know," Duncan said.  
  
"So what is it? Are you with us?" Ryan asked.  
  
Duncan could feel an enormous amount of pressure on his chest, if he wasn't Immortal, he'd almost think he was having a heart attack. It looked like he was in a no-win situation, it was either he went against the rules to save his life and Richie's, or come Saturday, they'd both be in the morgue. 


	12. Conclusion Unreached

Conclusion Unreached  
  
"I'm back, Tess."  
  
"Thank goodness, I was worried about you."  
  
"So, what happened?" Richie asked.  
  
"Well, Connor obviously has this more planned out than I thought, he's rounded up 7 other Immortals and they're all planning to battle Raoul at midnight on Friday, over by the docks," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan!" Tessa exclaimed.  
  
"Oh come on Tess, you know just as well as I do that Connor's obviously told Richie about the Immortals, we're all pretty much adults here, so I think we can talk about it," Duncan said.  
  
"He told you, didn't he?" Richie asked.  
  
Duncan turned to Richie to talk to him, Duncan knew by Richie's face that he expected something to happen, Duncan knew because that was the same face he had in 1855 when he was ready to be lynched.  
  
"He didn't have to, Rich, I know Connor, I know him well enough you can't trust him with anything," Duncan said.  
  
Richie had a look on his face like he expected Duncan to hit him.  
  
"Why didn't you just tell me he told you about Immortals? I've known about it for 370 years, I would've understood," Duncan told him.  
  
Richie didn't answer him, Duncan could tell that his knowledge of this had been a shock to Richie's system, Tessa decided to get the ball rolling to break the silence, she figured maybe if she and Duncan started talking again, maybe Richie would lighten up.  
  
"So what did Connor say?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Connor? The whole asylum was on my back!" Duncan said, "7 other Immortals, all telling me it's only suiting they all get rid of Raoul because he's so powerful, and they told me I should join them."  
  
"Was it anyone you knew?" Tessa asked.  
  
"A couple of them, and they were no more help than all the rest! They kept getting on my back because I didn't want to go along with it because it was against the rules," Duncan said.  
  
"So what did they say?" Tessa asked.  
  
"They said whoever receives Raoul's Quickening deserves it, and they want me to join them!" Duncan said.  
  
"And are you?" Tessa asked.  
  
"YES! Even though I'm completely against it!" Duncan exclaimed.  
  
"Then why in the hell are you even doing it in the first place?" Tessa yelled.  
  
"To protect Richie!" Duncan replied.  
  
Duncan and Tessa turned and looked at the boy, it just occured to them that during their conversation, it was the only time they'd even mentioned him.  
  
"What?" Richie asked.  
  
"The.....the only reason I agreed to it is because Raoul's bound to find out sooner or later that you're alive, and I'm for keeping you that way, but if Raoul gets away again, none of us will be," Duncan said.  
  
"God, Mac......you must be scared of the outcome of this matter," Richie said.  
  
"I'm not scared, Richie," Duncan told him.  
  
Duncan waited until Richie left to tell Tessa the truth.  
  
"I'm terrified," Duncan said.  
  
"Why? It's 9 of you against Raoul, one of you has to win," Tessa said.  
  
"I know, but suppose this guy's got an army of his own and he's saving that for the fight? Tessa, I'm worried," Duncan said.  
  
"About Friday night," Tessa replied.  
  
"No....first I was worried because Richie couldn't remember who he was, then I was worried because he was getting out of here at night and it wasn't even his idea, then I was worried when Connor came around looking like spare ribs, then I was worried when Raoul almost took my head, now I'm worried about losing the 2 of you to that beast," Duncan said.  
  
"It doesn't have to be that way, Duncan," Tessa said.  
  
"All the other Immortals, have already lost the people who mattered to them most, I'm the last one on Raoul's list for the moment, so you can be sure he'll be trying again," Duncan told her.  
  
"Just tell me this much......if it wasn't for me and Richie......would you still fight him?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I don't know, if it wasn't for you 2, I probably wouldn't have come across him," Duncan said.  
  
"How do you figure?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Well, if I hadn't met you, I probably wouldn't have moved here, and if I hadn't moved here, I never would've met Richie, and if that hadn't have happend, Connor wouldn't come around here looking for us both and Raoul wouldn't have come into town looking for Connor," Duncan explained.  
  
"That's some mighty complicated figuring, but I'm afraid you're right," Tessa said.  
  
"Listen, I don't want you 2 thinking this is your fault, you're not to blame for this, and neither is Richie, someone has to kill Raoul and it might as well be one of us," Duncan told her.  
  
"So you ARE going through with this?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Yes...I never thought I'd be doing this," Duncan said.  
  
"Killing an Immortal like Raoul?" Tessa asked.  
  
"No, teaming up with 8 other Immortals, 3 of which I know, and those 3 of which, have already tried in the past, and succeeded in getting me killed," Duncan replied.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Later that afternoon, Duncan found Tessa and Richie in the living room.  
  
"What're you two doing?" he asked.  
  
"Playing cards," Tessa answered, "straight."  
  
"Royal flush," Richie said, "pay up."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Tessa got up and started to undo her shirt, Duncan quickly became alarmed, grabbed Tessa and went into the next room.  
  
"Tessa, what do you think you're doing?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I'm losing, it's strip poker," Tessa said.  
  
"WHAT!?"  
  
If Richie wasn't struck with amnesia, Duncan would've belted him.  
  
"It was my idea, I decided to show him how to play cards," Tessa said.  
  
"But why strip poker? For God's sake, he's a teenager!" Duncan exclaimed.  
  
"Well, we've been trying to think of something that might bring his memory back...I remember one time, purely accidental mind you, we walked into each other in the bathroom one way, I was getting.....trying to get a shower, I figured maybe he'd see something and it'd spark his memory," Tessa explained.  
  
"That makes no sense to me, whatsoever," Duncan said.  
  
"Anymore a can opener makes no sense to you whatsoever, that's not the point, the point is I'm trying to help Richie," Tessa told him.  
  
Duncan didn't know what to do with them, one couldn't remember and the other he wished she'd forget some things.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
In the next few days, Duncan realized that Richie's attention towards him had grown stunningly. Of course, Richie was hit with the fact that he could lose the only father he had.   
  
Friday came rather fast, Duncan knew that the witching hour was approaching, so he got ready to meet the others at the docks.  
  
"You will tell Richie I said goodbye," Duncan reminded Tessa.  
  
"Why can't you tell him while you're still here?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Call me a bad father if that's what it makes me, but I don't want to see him tonight," Duncan said.  
  
"Duncan, this could be your last time seeing him," Tessa told him.  
  
"I know.........look, I know what I have to do, just bring him out here," Duncan said.  
  
Tessa went to get Richie, Duncan was just being stubborn, he was never good at saying goodbye to people, and there was no guarantee that he and Connor, and all the rest would be enough to kill Raoul.  
  
"Duncan!"  
  
"What is it Tess?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Richie's gone! I went in his room and he's gone!" Tessa said.  
  
Duncan jumped at that, he and Tessa looked all over the building and they couldn't find him.  
  
"Oh God," Duncan said.  
  
"You think Raoul got him, don't you?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I don't think, I know," Duncan said.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
Duncan got down at the docks with fire still in his eyes and burning in his soul, maybe he came too early, or too late, but he saw no one.  
  
"RAOUL! Get out here and show your face now!"   
  
"As you wish."  
  
Raoul stepped out into sight, Duncan was ready to behead him the second he was in his reach.  
  
"Well, I didn't think you'd make it, I thought I'd just have to finish off the others without you being part of it," Raoul told him.  
  
"You killed them off!" Duncan roared.  
  
"Not yet, but that will be momentarily, so why did you decide to come?" Raoul asked.  
  
There was so much anger and frustration building inside of Duncan, he could barely get the words to come out without sounding like a roaring beast, "To avenge the death of my son!"  
  
"Your son?" Raoul asked.  
  
Before Duncan could respond, Raoul pinned him in a motorboat and beat his head against the engine. It was a real shock to his system, Duncan's vision blurred, and he started going in and out of consciousness. Somehow, he managed to get back on his feet, and he grabbed Raoul by the neck, trying to choke him, but Raoul proved to have a better squeeze around someone's neck. When it seemed like there was no more life left in Duncan, Raoul swung him around and threw him on the ground like a rag doll. Duncan attempted to get up, but he only met that half way, when Raoul pinned him with his sword. What happened next, left Duncan in his tracks, Raoul's pretty much lifeless body fell to the ground, Duncan saw that he had been struck in the back with a sword, he looked up and came to quite a surprise.  
  
"Richie!"  
  
There Richie stood, alive and well, and full of wrath, Raoul mananged to partially turn around to face his fate.  
  
"How did you............how could you........"  
  
Raoul was too weak from the attack to get the words out, Richie stared at him with a glare like had lost all human emotion.  
  
"No one hunts my father without dying for it!"   
  
As the words left his mouth, Richie in the same instant, severed Raoul's head, Duncan knew what was coming next, but he didn't know who it would happen to. From Richie's view, it looked like Duncan had become a human lightning rod, it looked to him, like spontanous jolts of lightning were seeping through Duncan's body, when it finished, Duncan fell on the ground, seeming lifeless.  
  
"Mac!"  
  
Richie dropped the sword and ran over to Duncan to check for some life signs, but there was no need for that.  
  
"I'm okay Rich."  
  
Duncan felt his jaw practically tearing as he got the words out of his mouth, but he was glad that they survived.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
On the way back, Duncan was still a bit jolted from the whole fight and aftermath, so Richie kept a hold on him so he wouldn't fall down on the way back.  
  
"I thought you were dead," Duncan said.  
  
"Sorry I had to leave you in the dark again, but I figured it was something I had to do," Richie said.  
  
"How did you even know when to come?" Duncan asked.  
  
"I didn't, I just knew that you had to be at the docks by midnight, so I left 20 minutes early," Richie explained.  
  
"And you knew what happened to the others?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Yeah, Raoul knocked the crap out of them, including Connor," Richie said.  
  
"Yes, but fortunately, or unfortunately for us, depending on how you look at it, no sooner do I manage to get back on my feet, they get up and are ready to kill us," Duncan laughed.  
  
"Well, it was nice to see Connor still alive, he must have a lot of trouble keeping his head," Richie thought.  
  
"Some fights are more difficult than others," Duncan said.  
  
"Mac, I've just got one question," Richie said.  
  
"What's that?" Duncan asked.  
  
"The blade on the sword isn't stainless steel, you think the blood will still come out?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because........It's one I took from the display case at the store," Richie said.  
  
"What?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Well, I knew the Yanling sword was probably stronger, but I wanted to behead him as fast as possible, so I figured to make sure I don't miss, I better use the Damascus Tai Chi..."  
  
"You figured that, today? The last time I heard you say anything like that was 3 weeks ago when we..."  
  
It hit Duncan, the only way Richie could remember thinking like that would be if...  
  
Duncan turned to Richie with a very confused look on his face.  
  
"I'm back to normal, Mac!" Richie told him.  
  
"You may be back," Duncan told him, "but normal, that you'll never be."  
  
"Flattery will get you nowhere," Richie replied.  
  
*************************************************************************************************  
  
"Oh my God, Duncan, what happened?" Tessa asked.  
  
"Houdini got his memory back, he took a sword from the store and went out to find Raoul for himself," Duncan explained, as Richie helped him over to the table.  
  
"What happened?" Tessa asked.  
  
"What? Didn't you hear me? He beheaded Raoul," Duncan said.  
  
"What!?" Tessa asked, "Richie, you......you really got your memory back?"  
  
"Ask me anything," Richie said.  
  
"Okay, what's something you define that must go by the laws of science or whatever it was.....something that you said could only be real by nature?" Duncan asked.  
  
"Simple, if a girl likes me, the mother hates me, and it's not always the mother, sometime's its the dad," Richie replied.  
  
"And 2 days ago, he didn't even know about the little black book he hides in that steel box under his bed," Duncan laughed.  
  
"How did you know about that?" Richie asked.  
  
"Easy, it's the only place that was left to hide it after we found it in your dresser, your jacket, your first aid kit," Tessa explained.  
  
"I never knew you guys knew about all those places," Richie said.  
  
"Well we just didn't say anything," Duncan said, "and Richie......don't worry about the sword, I'm just glad that you're alive. You and Tessa, and Connor and the others, you saved our lives tonight."  
  
Richi was quiet after that, avoiding eye contact with Duncan.  
  
"What?" Duncan asked.  
  
"It's just that that's the first time anyone ever said that, all the time I always hear 'get out of here you punk! One of these days, you're going to be the end of me!'," Richie gritted his teeth, closed one eye and shook his fist.  
  
"I see you well remember Mister Kane," Tessa said.  
  
"Yeah, which reminds me."  
  
Richie grabbed his jacket and headed for the front door.  
  
"Where're you going?" Tessa asked.  
  
"I can't sleep, I feel wired," Richie said.  
  
Duncan waited until Richie left.  
  
"Hear that Tess? He's wired, come 8 tomorrow, half the town will be complaining to someone ringing their doorbells and running off...It's good to have Richie back," Duncan said. 


End file.
